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DICK AND JACK’S 
vDVENTURES ON SABLE ISLAND 





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CHICAGO 

LAIRD cV LEE, PUBLISHERS 



KTit^Twt ;iuconUuK A<*t. <»f c;ou>?res.s hi the yeni* eijrbteen 
hunrtnjil anil ninety-five hy 
WILLIAM H. LEi:, 

In Mm* of th<^ Lihrariaii (»f <'.onjtiess at VVashinK*<»n. 

(AM. KlCII'l'S KBSKIlVKI).) 


THIS BOOK 


IS DEDICATED TO 
MY TWO BOYS, 

Frederick Bennit Ashley 

AND 

Archibald Tremaine Ashley, 

AND TO ALL 

BOYS, GIRLS, FATHERS, MOTHERS, SISTERS 
BROTHERS AND COUSINS 
WHO BECOME THE READERS OF 

Dick and Jack’s Adventures 

ON 

Sable Island 







INSTEAD OF A PREFACE 


“Tan Pile Jim ” was so kindly received by the press, by the 
critics, and by a large number of boys and girls, ranging in age from 
seven to seventy, and so many have said, •• come again,” that we 
now venture upon another tale of youthful adventure. 

In the former book we were a good deal in the woods; in the 
present volume we take to the sea, and to one of the most remark- 
able islands of the Atlantic ocean — an island of which the alert 
publishers furnish a map taken from the Dominion Hydrographic 
Survey. 

It is hoped that Black Point Dick and jack, and the three 
" womenettes ” they discovered on Sable Island, may prove more 
interesting even than “ Tan Pile Jim ” and his friends. The artist 
who illustrated the former work with such inimitable humor and 
fidelity, has again tried his hand — thanks to our publishers — upon the 
characters and scenes described in the following pages. 

If this story succeeds as well as its predecessor, it is more than 
likely that another may follow in the same series — a tale dealing 
with life in a queer corner of — but the title must not be given away 
at this early date, and so we remain. 


B. FREEMAN ASHLEY. 


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INDEX TO CONTENTS 


CTUPTEB 

I. On Darling Rock 

11. A Stubborn Question ----- 

III. An Unwelcome Visitor ----- 

IV. Blood Will Tell ------ 

V. Last Trip of the Season ----- 

VI. Old Gray Blanket - 

VII. Almost Unknown ------ 

VI II. Diamonds in the Rough - . - - 

IX. The Great Undercurrent ----- 

X. Taking Private Rooms - - . _ - 

XI. Going to Court ------ 

XII. Three Womenettes ------ 

XIII. Among the Dunes ------ 

XIV. Returning to Quarters ------ 

XV. A Perilous Proposal ----- 

XVI. The Carolina Reappears - - - - . 

XVII. The Winter of Their Discontent - - - 

XVII I. A Sable Island Spring Fever - - - - 

XIX. The Revelations of a Wreck - - - - 

XX. Dune Dale, The House That Dick and jack Built - 

XXI. Nuts! Nuts! Here’s Nuts! - - - - 

XXII. Keeping a Secret ------ 

XXIII. Some Fresh Surprises ----- 

XXIV. The End That Is Only a Beginning - _ - 


PAHK 

13 

23 

33 

43 

55 

65 

75 

89 

101 

1 1 1 

125 

139 

153 

171 

181 

191 

205 

219 

231 

249 

261 

273 

283 

301 


SABLE ISLAND— WHERE AND WHAT IT IS 


The sketch on the opposite page, accurately made from the 
Dominion Hydrographic Survey, gives the reader of this book a good 
idea of the peculiar shape of what is known as the " Graveyard of 
the Atlantic,” and which, by many old salts, is called the •• Grand- 
mother of Sea Serpents.” It lies east and west in longitude west 
60 from Greenwich, and a few miles south of latitude 44, and is 
about ninety-five miles distant from Cape Canso, Nova Scotia. The 
survey gives the position of over one hundred and fifty wrecks, a few 
of which are represented on this sketch, together with the sheltering 
houses, life stations, lighthouses and signal stations. Dick and Jack 
landed on the southeastern part of the island, and became resident 
on the north side. The dotted part at the west end shows the por- 
tion of the island which has been washed away, while that at the east 
end shows the formation of the new land which already appears above 
water in the small island represented by the white spot. 



MAP OF SABLE ISLAND 






ON DARLING ROCK 


you know what you are laughing at. 
the name of this rock. 


T’S awful funny!” 

“ What’s running 
through your head 
now, Jack? Out with 
it! Funny things are 
as scarce here as 
girls, and they should be 
passed around as soon as they 
heave in sight.” 

“ The name of this rock — 
never thought of it before. 
The idea of calling such a 
rock as this a darling ! 
Somebody must have been 
plaguy hard up for a pet.” 

“ ’Tisn’t safe to laugh till 
There’s nothing funny about 
A good number of years ago, before a soul 

13 


14 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


lived within ten miles of this place, a brig came ashore here in the 
dead of winter and broke in two on the point of this rock. Before 
word could be got to Port Mouton for help seven men froze to death. 
Only five of the crew were saved. The brig was called the Darling, 
and that’s how the rock got its name.” 

Well, I knew nothing about it. Catch me coming down here 
again in the night time to see the waves turn to fire. I wonder the 
ghosts haven’t picked me up long before this and carried me off to 
sea with them.” 

“You needn’t be afraid of seeing ghosts anywhere about here.” 

“ Why not ?” 

“ The country is such a scare-crow ghosts are afraid to come 
here.” 

“Why, Dick! I have heard you say, ever so many times, that 
this was a grand place to live in.” 

“ H’m ! So it is, if you are only hunting for something to eat, 
and have a hankering for the everlasting racket that the sea makes 
upon the beach and among the rocks. But 1 shouldn’t like to die 
here, for those who are buried here will have a hard tussle to get 
from under the rocks when the resurrection comes.” 

“ You are such a prime fellow for getting out of scrapes and tight 
places. I’m thinking your chances would be as good here as any- 
where.” 

“ Look here. Jack! If we don’t quit this sort of talk, and begin 
to pull something out of the sea for dinner, we’ll get into a scrape 
with mother, and one that won’t be very easy to get out of, either.” 

And suiting his action to his word. Dick put a clam upon his 
strong hand-line, and, with a graceful circling throw, sent it fifty 
feet from the side of the rock on which they were standing. The 
bait had no sooner reached the bottom than it was seized by a 
hungry cunner — a sort of sea-bass — which was speedily landed upon 
^he rock and thrown into a bath-like water-filled cavity in the sur- 
face. Nor was this the only capture ; in swift succession another 
cunner, a good-sized mackerel, a young codfish, a big speckled crab 
and a crusty old lobster were hauled up. And there were sculpins. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


15 


too, which, like some people we wot of, were mostly mouth, spots 
and prickly spines, fins and tail. The sculpins were thrown upon the 
surface of the rock long enough to permit them to bloat up with 
wind to their hearts’ content, and then they were thrown back into 
the sea, where, floating, like the natural bladders that they were, 
they made frantic but unavailing attempts to get under water again. 

Jack Melville, the first speaker, was in his fourteenth year, and 
Dick, to whom he was speaking, was his sixteen-year-old brother. 
The boys were not only brothers, but chums in every sense of the 
word. Both were tall, and straight as ram-rods. Neither of them 
carried an ounce of surplus flesh. Their mother said that she would 
as soon think of trying to fatten a pair of beanpoles as to think of 
trying to cover their bones with flesh. No fault could be found with 
their appetites ; they ate what was set before them with so much dili- 
gence that they never had time to ask questions or to maxe remarks 
about their food. Although they were so lean, their muscles were 
like bundles of steel springs, and all their movements were as quick 
and full of life as the movements of a squirrel. 

It is a mystery how such plain names as Richard and John get 
twisted into such mis-names as Dick and Jack ; it is as great as the 
mystery of Cain’s wife. The boys, from their earliest recollection, 
knew themselves as Dick and Jack, and they never said Richard and 
John unless they were meditating mischief, and when anybody else 
addressed them by their written names, it was immediately taken 
for granted that something solemn or ominous was putting on its 
boots for a kick. Let us call them Dick and Jack, for, after all, 
these names are not so objectionable as the lolly-pop ones, which, 
like •• Tommie ” or “ Tildie,” taper to sweet nothingness. 

Dick’s features, slightly freckled and much browned, were regular. 
His eyes were black as coals, and his dark hair was a declaration of 
independence ; no comb could reduce it to smoothness. 

Jack’s face was as freckled as a foliage plant, and some of the 
spots — many of them in fact— were larger than a dime and far more 
ragged around the edges. His eyes, brown and velvety, were of 
nearly the same shade as his long, curly, dark-brown hair. The 


16 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


features were somewhat girlish and poetic ; yet it was not safe to 
presume too much upon this, for his dreamy eyes were capable of 
ominous flashes, and when he was aroused he was both obstinate and 
fearless. 

As he stood there on the rock, he was dressed in a red flannel 
shirt, blue knickerbockers and brown stockings. His lower and upper 
garments were kept together by a pair of home-knit “ gallusses,” 
which, being made of lamb’s wool, were sufficiently elastic to meet 
all the requirements of the most unexpected capers. He wore a 
Tam O’Shanter, knit by ten angels who lived on his mother’s hands 
— angels of industry and watchfulness, whose incessant activity 
must have made the recording angel look upon her daily tasks as 
marvels of womanly capability. Knowing the boy’s partiality for 
bright colors, Mrs. Melville, mother of seven children, all living, and 
all at home save two of the eldest boys, had run a glowing band of 
red through the head-band of the Tam O’Shanter, and, besides, had 
crowned the predominating gray with a flowing tassel of the same 
color. 

Dick was in blue from top to bottom, both shirt and trousers hav- 
ing been shaped from a bale of blue serge that had come on shore 
from some unknown wreck. Disdaining all such things as 
" gallusses,” his waist was girded with a leathern belt made by him- 
self after the dictates of his own fancy. 

Neither of them wore anything in the shape of under or over 
clothing: the lives they led during the milder part of the year were 
altogether too free to permit of any such incumbrances. Both wore 
heavy cowhide brogans, made for service rather than for show. 
These knew nothing of blacking, although they were well 
acquainted with mutton tallow, to which, if they were treated on 
Sunday morning, they owed their freedom from all complaining 
squeaks. 

Two boys of such a make-up could not move around without con- 
siderable wear and tear, and hence, it happened that their garments 
were spotted with darns and patches almost without number. Nor 
did the colors of the additions always conform to the original hues of 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


17 


the material of which they had become a part. Wear and weather, 
however, soon reduced the whole to a sort of subdued harmony. 

Dick wore a blue navy cap which he found on the beach. It had 
a band of real gold lace around it, and when first taken possession 
of *• R. N.” in gold were over the vizor. These letters were 
carefully removed. 

“ They might mean Royal Navy,” said the finder ; •* and if I were 
to leave them on I might be taken up for pretending to be a British 
navy officer.” 

“ They might mean Regular Noodle,” suggested Jack, a little 
enviously : “ and in that case they would be equally dangerous to 
wear.” 

As it was, the cap made Dick look like a midshipman, and cer- 
tainly put into his head a good many quarterdeck ideas with which 
he had not been troubled before its arrival. Possibly the former 
owner may have been a little top-lofty, and some of his feelings 
might have stuck to the cap in spite of the washings of the waves, 
and so, some of them might have leaked down into Dick’s brain. 
At any rate a bit of shining gaud occasionally plays the mischief with 
otherwise very sensible people. 

After the boys had tended their lines awhile. Jack, seeing that the 
next meal was safely provided for. stopped his jerking invitations to 
the fish, and. in his dreaming way. amused himself by observing 
things about him. And there are many things to amuse one if the 
weather eye is kept open. 

Far out at sea a ship under full head of canvas was moving along 
the horizon like a small white cloud. A big black ocean-liner 
steamed along in an opposite direction throwing out densely black 
smoke that trailed against the blue sky for miles and miles. Smaller 
craft could be seen here and there, but they were so distant they 
looked like gulls skimming the surface of the sea. 

Tiring of the distant view. Jack condescended to look at what was 
nearer. Two ducks, seeming to know that the boys had no guns 
with them, alighted impudently near the rock, and three seals, 
within a stone’s throw, pushed their heads above water and looked 


18 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


covetously in the direction of the sculpins that were still floating 
upon the surface, for seals must eat as well as human beings. 
Presently one of them sank out of sight, and a moment after one of 
the sculpins disappeared also. This was the signal for the other 
seals to go to the bottom, where, doubtless, they shared in the fruits 
of the first one’s enterprise. 

Down in the clear depths, near the rock, enormous crabs were 
playing a sort of hop-scotch game, which, however, was brought to a 
speedy close by a big lobster, which darted among them, tail fore- 
most, as rapidly as a rocket. In an instant the crabs buried them- 
selves in the sand, and Mr. Lobster returned to his hole under the 
edge of the rock. 

Several starfish crept slowly about, although, so far as Jack could 
see, they hadn’t a single convenience for travelling. A lot of sea- 
urchins. looking like big. bad, green apples, crawled up and down the 
face of the rock with as much ease as if they had furnished them- 
selves with a supply of housefly boots. It was as if a score or two 
of base balls were climbing up a wall. 

White-bellied, silver-scaled, blue-backed, black-spotted fish swam 
about in mid-water with as much fearlessness as if there were not a 
hook within a hundred miles. 

Feeling a peculiar touch upon his line, Jack glanced down to where 
it trailed over the side of a rock, and saw two long slimy arm.s pro- 
jecting from a crevice and meddling with his business. He let them 
fumble about for a moment, and then began to pull in. At this six 
more arms of the same kind came to the aid of the two already at 
work, and a hideous head, with two great blueish-gray eyes, looked 
upward with a stare that would have terrified the fisherboy if he had 
never seen the like before. 

"So it’s you, Mr. Devilfish!” exclaimed Jack, wrathily. "I’d 
like to run hot irons into your goggles, and chop you to pieces with 
an axe. Just let my line alone and go about your business.” To 
emphasize his advice, he jerked his line with all the force it would 
bear, and the intruder, dropping to the bottom, used his eight arms 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


19 


for legs and ran away, looking for all the world like a six-foot gray 
spider. 

'■ Now, just for the chance of the thing, I’ll put a fresh bait on and 
make another throw into the big pocket of old ocean,” But, chancing 
on nothing. Jack lost all interest in fishing, and watched the waves 
chasing one another till they noisily splashed among the cobble or 
thinned themselves to nothing running up the beach. He took as 
much pleasure in this as a turfman would in seeing horses racing on 
a track, and wondered why one wave never got ahead of another 
that had once gotten the start of it. 

Suddenly he called out : “ Hello. Dick ! There’s a whole host 

of old girls coming around the corner of the rock!” 

“Well, let ’em come,” said Dick, recognizing one of Jack’s old 
jokes. “ There’s plenty of room for them to dance if they don’t 
come too near the rock.” 

Thousands of jelly-fish, with their great parasol-heads and skirt- 
like stringers, were coming around the rock in the slow tide-current 
in a long crooked procession of members that varied in size from 
two inches to six feet in length. As they bobbed up and down, and 
turned round and round, it required no great stretch of imagination^ 
to think of them as a lot of sea-girls out for a gentle frolic ; but, 
being transparent, they looked ghost-like and uncanny. Withal, 
they were as circumspect as if the head of the procession were led 
by a clergyman, and the tail of it were finished off with a godly 
grandmother. 

Vexed at the failure of his joke. Jack gave a vicious pull at his 
line, with the result of becoming convinced that he had struck some- 
thing more disappointing than a dead joke. Pulling in his line, he 
found that he had hooked a stingaree or skate, a creature which has 
a tail ending with a poisonous horn for a weapon of offense and 
defense, 

“ Here’s a pretty kettle of fish I What shall I do with this con- 
founded salt-water bumblebee, Dick?” 

“ Keep clear of his tail, whatever else you do. Let him have ten 


20 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


feet of the line, and then run him up the rock. While he is think- 
ing about things I’ll mash his head with a stone." 

Jack did as directed, and when the unwelcome and dangerous 
visitor was killed, he was flung back into the sea, with an invitation 
to go and examine the teeth of the seals. 

•• His blood will draw a school of mackerel," said Dick, “ and I’ll 
fish a little longer to help them along with their education. There’s 
nothing like the wisdom that comes by experience.” 

Jack was urged to join in the teaching, but his reply was; “ No, 
sir! 1 know when I’ve got enough. I’m beginning to smell like a 
fish myself, and when a fellow gets that far along he’ll spoil the taste 
of his grub if he doesn’t stop. I’ll take a walk while you are finish- 
ing your pull.” 

It is not every boy that can take a walk like that which Jack took, 
and that, too, without leaving Darling Rock. The rock was over 
300 feet long by about 100 in width. Through the middle, em- 
bedded in the tough gray granite, and running cross-wise the entire 
width, there was a broad seam of glistening milk-white quartz flash- 
ing with great lumps of flaky mica, from which the boys slivered off 
all the mica they wanted for lanterns and for window lights, when 
by any mischance the house windows got broken. 

The rock was shaped like a great wharf, and when the weather 
permitted, fishing vessels sometimes ran alongside for the purpose of 
refilling their casks with fresh water drawn from a spring that purled 
from among the rocks of the upland. This, however, was a risky 
thing to do, the shore being naked to the full sweep of both wind and 
wave. 

One side of the rock formed a part of a crescent shaped cove 
around the shores of which there was a steep beach of many-colored 
cobble stones broken into numberless sizes and rounded into an in- 
finite variety of shapes by the ceaseless play of the sea. At all 
times these cobbles could be heard rattling beneath the waves as it 
protesting against being ground into the nothingness of mere sand. 
Similar coves stretched beyond, so that the coast looked as though 
the great sea-serpent were in the habit of making his meals from 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


21 


the edge of the land by biting into it as a boy sometimes bites into 
the edges of his slice of bread and butter. 

That side of the rock on '#/hich the boys had been fishing gave a 
view of a long sand-beach, whose glistening sands were almost as 
white as snow. Jack knew that the cobbles that were ground up on 
one side of the rock made the sands that were spread out on the 
other side, but he couldn’t understand how it was that only the white 
particles were thrown on shore together ; and more than once he had 
tried to guess what became of all the darker parts of the pulverized 
cobbles. There was a picking process carried on somewhere, and 
very effectual it was, too. in its selections ; so effectual, indeed, that 
it made him think of the separation made between the good and 
the bad. 

The land-end of Darling Rock rose till it was lost in a plat of 
highland sod, covered with the reddest of clover and with the whitest 
of field-daisies, in contrast with which, belated dandelions here and 
there flung out their brilliant yellow. Above this patch of wild 
beauty rose a small hill topped by a flat ridge of granite on which 
was perched a gigantic boulder 16 feet high, round as an apple and 
more than 100 tons in weight, and so delicately poised in its shallow 
socket in the rock that a single person, with the aid of a crowbar, could 
make it sway to and fro. Other boulders, but of a much smaller 
size, were scattered all about, reminders of the time when the great 
ice-floods played marbles with them — the time before boys were in- 
vented. 

The big boulder was called the Witch of Endor There had been 
a shipwreck on the beach, and while saving her cargo the crew 
camped near the boulder. Among the men was a pranky painter, 
who, using the ship’s paints, spent a whole Sunday morning in paint- 
ing the sea-side part of the boulder with what he called a likeness of 
the Witch of Endcr. The face was ugly enough to be called any- 
thing that was bad, and could be plainly seen a mile at sea. Its ugly, 
glaring eyes stared directly down upon Darling Rock, as though de- 
termined to frighten anyone from landing there. 

The sea-end of Darling Rock tapered down till it was lost in a 


22 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


broken ledge which was bared only at low tide, or when the trough 
of the waves passed over it. It was covered with a tangle of long 
kelp or seaweed that swayed and squirmed in the water like an enor- 
mous bunch of dark-green serpents. 

Stopping his walk for a moment Jack looked up to the Witch of 
Endor, and shaking his fist at her, exclaimed : *' You miserable old 

hag ! you must be the mother of the sculpins, stingarees, devil-fish 
and sea-serpents, and every other nasty thing that hides in the sea ! 
If I could only crowbar you out of that hollow I’d roll you down hill 
into the sea where you belong. Or if I had wood enough I’d 
kindle a fire under you that would crack your ugly cocoanut into 
smithereens !” 



makes me ache to think of 
thinking of now.” 


STUBBORN QUE.STION 

ACK’S fling at the Witch of 
Endor increased his desire to 
throw stones at all the region 
round about. Returning to 
Dick, he sat down by him, 
and in a very determined way, 
asked : 

“ Dick, how did we ever get 
here ?” 

•• Why — er — don’t you rd*- 
member how we got here 
three years ago?” Dick re- 
plied, stumblingly, not under 
standing what his brother was 
driving at. 

" Oh, 1 remember what a 
time we had after leaving the 
last settlement getting through 
the woods, bogs and sands, 
where there wasn’t a sign 
of a road to be seen ; it 
even now, but that isn’t what 1 am 


23 



24 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


" Well, what do you mean, anyway?” 

Wasn’t father born in North Carolina and mother in Massachu- 
setts, and didn’t they both live in Maine a good many years?” 

‘•Of course, of course!” Dick was prompt enough to answer 
now, for, although he was born in Nova Scotia, he was jealous of his 
United States pedigree, and swore by the stars and stripes as loyally 
as if he had been born an American a dozen times over. 

“ Then how did we ever get here ?” persisted Jack, stubbornly. 

Dick found himself up to the neck in a difficulty, but he wasn’t 
going to confess it, and so, at a venture, he said : “ Well, you see, 

father was a minister, and ministers have to go where the Lord 
sends them.” 

The answer was so lame and halting that Jack saw how it hobbled 
along, and he interrupted him with: “That won’t go, Dick! 
There’s no church here, and nothing to make one of; nobody but 
Wallace, that old Scotchman on the hill, and old Wagner, the 
Dutchman on Port Mouton Head, and Mingo, the Frenchman that 
lives on the other side of Catherine’s river. Who’d want to preach 
to them and their wives? they’d frighten Paul and Peter out of the 
very idea. Father never preaches here, but tramps miles and miles 
away when he has anything of that kind to do. Don’t fool with me ! 
How did we get here ?” 

“ Do you remember Yarmouth ?” asked Dick, cautiously. “ There 
are lots of people there, and good people, too, and father preached 
in a big church there, and the folks that went to his church wore 
good clothes and all that sort of thing.” 

“ 1 remember that well enough. Maybe the Lord did send him 
there, but if I’d been the Lord I’d have kept him in the States, 
where he belonged. At any rate, he might have kept him in Yar- 
mouth. where a fellow had a chance to see some boys and girls once 
in a while, and to go to school if he .wanted to.” 

Dick was inclined to laugh at his brother’s outburst, but seeing 
that his eyes were beginning to burn, he gathered his scattered wits 
and plunged into the mystery as well as he knew how. 

" You know father had some rich members in his church in Yar- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


25 


mouth, and one of them used to own this place, which he kept for 
hunting purposes. One summer he invited father to come down 
here and spend his vacation with him. Father fell in love with the 
place, and the man sold it to him — nineteen hundred acres for 
twenty-five cents an acre.” 

" Fell in love with it! Goodness, Dick! And did he fall in love 
with the Witch of Endor?” 

•• Well, she was here with the rest of the country.” 

" I knew the Lord had nothing to do with his coming here. Now, 
pony up, and tell me straight : What did he come here for ? It’s 
worse than • Pilgrim’s Progress,’ or * Robinson Crusoe,’ or any of 
• Peter Parley’s Tales,’ and worse than the wilderness in which the 
Israelites got lost for forty years !” 

•• Well, Americans like to make money, and father thought he 
saw a chance to make some here, so he dropped his church and 
came here to try it. But you know he hasn’t given up preaching 
altogether.” 

•• Make money here!” exclaimed Jack, ripping into Dick’s apolo- 
getic explanations without mercy. •* How can he make money here 
when there is nothing to make it out of ?” 

“ Why, you know he has twenty men at work for him.” 

“ Yes, but they cost money, and we have to keep fishing and 
shooting for their camp more than half the time to keep them in 
victuals.” 

•• They cost money now, but by and by. when their work is done 
and father’s plans are completed, the money will come back, and lots 
more with it.” Dick spoke stoutly enough, yet his confidence was 
by no means up to the level of his words. 

What are the men doing?” asked jack, for the thought of there 
being anything like a plan in affairs around him had not occurred to 
him before. 

•• The gang at Catherine’s river is dyking the river and sluicing it 
with sluices that the flow of the tide will shut and the flow of the 
river will open. That will shut the tide out from the salt meadows, 
and drain them from the water of the streams. The other gang is 


26 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


cutting a canal at this end of the meadows to let the water out that 
way also. And the brush that has been piled upon Port Jolli beach 
will collect the sand when it blows about, and by piling on brush as 
fast as the sand rises, there will soon be a high sand wall against the 
sea between Catherine’s river and Black Point. When it’s all done, 
there’ll be hundreds of acres of fresh meadows instead of salt 
meadows, and we shall have clover and timothy enough to supply all 
southern Nova Scotia. Good hay is scarce here, you know. There’s 
big money in it, sure.” and Dick’s confidence arose again as soon as 
he began to assert it. 

Besides,” he went on to say, “ we shall be able to keep hundreds 
of cattle and thousands of sheep to supply these Nova Scotians with. 
Oh, 1 tell you father’s up to snuff, never you fear!” 

“ How long will it take ?” 

*■ Maybe four or five years.” 

" That’s an awful long time to wait for money.” 

“We won’t have to wait that long; we can do as Peter did, get 
money from the fish. There are oceans of mackerel and codfish off 
shore, and no end of halibut. Why, since you and 1 have taken to 
halibut hunting we have put up over forty kegs of fins and smoked more 
than two tons of halibut meat, and have made over $175.00 in clean 
cash, besides getting a good many things in exchange for the meat. 
Then we have made ten barrels of sour kraut from the cabbages we 
raised ; and just think of the potatoes and the turnips ! Oh. we 
shan’t starve here ; and when we have made money enough we are 
going over to the States, where we’ll cut as big a swell as anybody, 
and have all the books we can read.” 

Now that Dick had fairly started the current in another direction, 
Jack was caught in it and went with it. "And just think of the shoot- 
ing there is round here!” he exclaimed with enthusiasm. " Foxes, 
wildcats and bears, and wolves, too, when we want to make up a 
variety of skins ; and the muskrat, mink and weasel skins sell as 
well as the others. Then there are the ducks and the wild geese 
that fill the salt ponds back of the salt meadows in the fall, and the 
plovers, curlews, snipe and beach-birds that crowd about in the spring. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


27 


not to say anything about the partridges, and the bushels of gulls’ 
eggs we can get when we want thenn. If we only had some real live 
boys and girls to keep us company I’d be almost willing to believe 
that the Lord sent father here after all.” 

“You forget the Wallace. Wagner and Mingo boys and girls.” 
said Dick, glad to see that Jack was veering round to a more cheer- 
ful view of things. 

“ Ugh ! they are only trash ! Can’t one of them read or write ; 
and they speak so crookedly it’s enough to breaK one’s back to listen 
to them. Scotch. Dutch and French! it hurts my ears every time 
one of them speaks to me. I tried to teach one of those Mingo 
girls a verse of Scripture last Sunday, when I was over there, and she 
made such work of it I almost felt as if the Lord would kill her for 
making the Bible appear so ridiculous. If we had another American 
family here to keep us company, so that we could celebrate Fourth 
of July together, we’d let the other folks go to the the Witch of 
Endor for company, for they smell like codfish oil every time they 
come here, and look as dirty as if they had just crawled out of a 
gurry barrel.” 

“Well, we’ve got one good, sweet, pretty sister, anyway, and we 
shall have to make the most of her,” remarked Dick, proudly. 

“ Mary I That’s so I” consented Jack, with emphasis. “ and if our 
big brothers were not off getting their livings for themselves we could 
have pretty good times. The little shavers are not fit for anything, 
only to kitten around among the rocks after shells or among the 
grass and the thickets for birds’ eggs.” 

“ But we have father and mother ; he’s always full of fun and 
stories about his campaign among the Seminoles of Florida, and she 
is as lively as a cricket when she has any time'of her own. What 
could we do without them!” 

“ Without them !” exclaimed Jack, drawing a deep sigh. “ With- 
out them! Why, Dick, it’s too awful to think of!” There were 
tears in Jack’s eyes now. 

“ Think of the swell folks that come here in the fall to hunt,” 
said Dick, to divert his brother's thoughts. “ Let me see ; last fall 


28 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


we had a judge, an attorney general, an editor, who cracked us up 
in his paper; an author, the captain of an English frigate, and a real 
live lord all the way from England. They made lively times here, 
the two weeks they staid, with their guns, dogs and traps.” 

•‘Yes, lively times for us to wait on them, and for mother and 
father, too. It tires me to think of it ; 1 was glad when they went. 
1 couldn’t keep track of my manners half the time, and every one of 
us, from father down had to sleep in the barn at night to make room 
for them.” 

“ But what fun there was that night, when the wildcat, getting a 
smell of that mutton in the cellar, fell down the window and right 
under the whole crowd, and set up a caterwauling that made them 
think that the Goliah of cats had got into their rooms,” Dick replied, 

"Yes!” said Jack, promptly, and grinning broadly, " and what a 
frolic we had when we came out of the barn and saw that all of them 
had run out doors in their night clothes and stood there in the moon- 
light looking like ghosts. And what a touse they made over you 
when you went down into the cellar and shot the wildcat.” 

'• Well, 1 didn’t feel funny a bit after I got into the cellar and saw 
the glare of those two eyes. 1 knew that if the shot missed, the 
creature would be after me like a streak of lightning. You know 
I’m not fond of fighting wildcats, only when 1 can bait a cod-hook 
with mutton and hang it to the limb of a tree, and go in the morning 
and find the wildcat hanging there like a fish on a pole. It’s easy 
shooting them after they are hanged.” 

‘ How like boys those fellows acted the next day, when they put 
the skin of your cat up at auction and knocked it down to Lord 
Lendholm for two pounds, ten. I suppose that that skin is in Eng- 
land now, and that they tell about you every time the skin is 
shown.” 

" Oh, take a new tack. Jack ; you make me feel like a fool, just 
as they did when they made me take the money. But they were all 
jolly good fellows, and made themselves as much at home in our 
close quarters as if they had lived in our style all their days. But 
they didn’t know what to make of it when father and mother refused 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


29 


to take any pay when they went away, and invited them to come 
again, and when they tried to shove their money upon us and we 
told them that father and mother were good hands to copy after, 
they looked as funny as sheep that have been soused in cold water." 

“ Guess they thought there were some Americans that could turn 
their backs on money when they wanted to," commented jack, toss- 
ing his curls behind his back with a proud shake of his head. " But 
they sent a pile of books and knick-knacks to us as soon as they got 
back to Halifax, and that is where they cornered us." 

“ But the books were nice ones; they reminded me of the gentle- 
men themselves — they were lively without being either coarse 
or vulgar." 

The long blast of a conch shell interrupted the conversation, and 
caused Jack to exclaim : " That’s mother, blowing for the fish ; now 
let's stir our pegs. But what shall we carry up?" 

“ The cunners and crabs,” Dick replied. ” It won’t take so long 
to cook them as it will the others. The mackerel, cod and lobsters 
will keep fresh till they are wanted." 

With a gaff he hooked from the basin what he wanted, and with 
Jack, hastened up to the house, which was a low-roofed, seven- 
roomed, unfinished cottage, built upon a hillside, where it commanded 
an uninterrupted view of the stormy Atlantic. There was not a 
shrub nor a tree near it, but only rocks, rocks everywhere. 

Black Point, on which the Melvilles lived, was the most desolate 
and lonely spot in southern Nova Scotia. Without a harbor, in- 
fested with fog^, surrounded with breakers and beset with deceitful 
currents, it was hated and shunned of all mariners. Many a vessel 
had been wrecked there. The short, stub-nosed end of the point 
was flanked at the base with long beaches of the whitest of sand, on 
which the surf beat with an incessant roar. The back of the point 
ended in crooked lagoons, treacherous marshes, deep bogs and 
deadly quicksands, all surrounded with low, stunted, tangled thickets 
of fir, spruce, maple and black birch, making the lurking-places of 
foxes, wildcats, or Canadian lynx, and the few wolves and bears that 
found their way there from the north. 


30 


DiCK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


The nearest postoffice was eight miles distant, and was reached 
by the merest apology for a road, or, when the weather permitted, 
by boat around Port Mouton Head. The family mail was brought 
by Dick and Jack once a month ; if it came oftener, it was by court- 
esy of some casual visitor. 

The neighbors, already mentioned by the boys, require a word 
more. Wallace, who, with his family of five, lived but a short dis- 
tance from the Melvilles, was not a bad Scotchman, though some- 
what overproud of his nativity and of his countrymen. With his 
oatmeal, his Burns and his Bible, he defied the fates, and lived an 
easy, shiftless, talkative sort of a life. He amused Mr, Melville, but 
his uncouth dialect, shared in by his children, was a sore trial to 
the boys. 

Wagner, a Hollander, with his family of six, lived a mile and a 
half distant, at the head of a small cove. Nothing in the world 
could induce him to do a regular day’s work, yet when there was a 
wreck near, he would court any danger to get his share of the prey. 
His house was full of stuff gathered from the sea. He had learned 
just English enough to make himself barely understood by English 
speaking people. He lived within his cove like a spider in its web, 
and there were whispers along the coast that he and Mingo were in- 
strumental in luring more than one vessel to destruction for the sake 
of plunder. 

Mingo, the Frenchman, with his wife and two flashy daughters, 
living in an opposite direction from that of the Wagners, were a mile 
and a quarter from the Melvilles. They had no visible means of 
support, and hence, were also under the inspection of the customs as 
suspicious characters. 

Occasionally, these three men would meet in the Melville family, 
and then it was Babel over again on a small scale, while Dick and 
jack looked on and listened as though they were attending a high- 
priced comedy. 

Mr. Melville, himself, was a Southerner, and a soldier of the war of 
1812, and in his own way an oddity. Although he inherited slaves 
in the South, he set them free at the earliest practicable moment 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


3i 


after they came into his possession. Educated for a lawyer, he for- 
sook that profession and became an evangelist, and finally a pastor. 
Drifting from North Carolina to Maine, he afterward floated over the 
Bay of Fundy into Nova Scotia, where, after serving as pastor for 
several years, he suddenly dropped down upon Black Point with a 
determination to transform its surroundings into the means of wealth. 
And. being an American, full of energy and expedients, and free to 
talk of his great expectations, his friends caught his enthusiasm and 
believed that he would succeed. 

Although the Melville house was so far removed from settlements 
visitors were numerous and varied, some coming by boat and some 
on horseback, but most on foot. The men on horseback, who were 
mostly men of means and leisure, came from curiosity, or to hunt 
and fish ; but the scattered fisher-folk along the shore, hearing that 
the American could turn his hand to almost anything, resorted to 
him on all sorts of errands. Some came with bad consciences that 
needed soothing ; some with legal quarrels they wanted advice on ; 
some with bad teeth that needed to be filled or pulled ; some with 
clocks or watches to be mended, and others with diseases they be- 
lieved he could cure. More than once he was asked to officiate at 
the birth of a child, and frequently he was called upon to walk long 
distances to attend a funeral or to conduct revival services in out-of- 
the-way hamlets. 

His library, which was in the family sitting-room, and which was 
quite extensive, contained not only skeletons of sermons and other 
dry and dead things connected with theology, but it was also well 
supplied with books on medicine, dentistry, mechanics and clock mend- 
ing. And there were tools and bottles on the shelves to meet the 
varied demands made upon him. 

He never charged for services rendered, and so seldom received 
any reward he had no difficulty in pacifying his conscience for aban- 
doning the pastorate and seeking money at Black Point. In his own 
way he was all things to all men, if by any means he might save some 
from their inconveniences and troubles. He would say ; *• People 
have bodies as well as souls, and if the ship is kept from getting 


32 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


leaky there will be a better chance of its cargo reaching the other 
shore in some sort of shape.” 

The stay of visitors was governed by the errands on which they 
came. If one brought a clock to be mended he stayed till it was 
able to go away with him ; or if one came to fish and shoot he re- 
mained till he got tired and then departed in peace. 

One thing Mr. Melville would not do — he never allowed his books 
to go gadding about the country, though his visitors often solicited 
their company. His library was handled by his children as freely as 
it was by himself, and he meant that during the tedious storms and 
the long evenings, and the longer Sundays, no vacant spaces on the 
shelves should disappoint their search for whatever they took a fancy 
to, for their fancy was not always confined to “ Pilgrim’s Progress.” 
“ Robinson Crusoe,” “ Peter Parley’s Tales,” or “ Mother Goose's 
Melodies,” and the hymn book and Homer’s “ Iliad”; it reached as 
far as the skeleton sermons and commentaries and all the other 
books that treated of other kinds of tinkering. And thus it hap- 
pened that Dick and Jack, from frequent handling of the books, 
could speak as glibly of titles and authors as many old boys do of 
titles and authors whose subjects and learning they have never so 
much as dipped into. Of cou”se, they couldn’t sink their lines into 
them as deeply as they sunk their cod-lines into the sea; hence, 
they only played with them, as they sometimes took their dory and 
played with the surf rolling in upon the beach. 

Well, the very sight of books is educating to a certain extent, and 
the more there are in a house, the better it is for all who live in the 
house. Books are the spirits of the great — the kind of spirits it is 
good to be familiar with. 



AN UNWI'NiCOMlO VISITOR 

HE dyke and canal were 
both finished, and the 
drainage was so com- 
plete, the salt meadows 
only needed to be seed- 
ed down with clover and 
timothy to change them 
into rich fresh meadows. 
A strong sea-wall was 
also built to protect the 
low land in front of the 
cottage, and where, be- 
fore, there was a sodden, 
unsightly bog. there was 
now a beautiful plat of 
green grass. This plat 
Dick and Jack called 
Culpepper Meadow, after " Nicholas Culpepper, 
Gent., student in physic and astrology,” whose odd 
botanical book they had often searched for the 
names of the curious wild plants they found upon 
Black Point, and on the marshes and among the 
^ jungles around them. 

The boys had built two fish-houses, and with the aid of the Scot, 
had constructed a stout, dinky whale-boat, sharp at both ends, and 

3.T 


34 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


broad and deep in the middle, and fitted to ride almost any sea and 
to go any distance they might want to go on their halibut trips among 
the ledges and the shoals of the coast. This boat they called the 
Carolina, in honor of their father’s native State. 

There were now a hundred and ten sheep on the Point, seven cows, 
four calves and five yoke of oxen. The summer catch of halibut 
had been sold to good advantage in the early fall to a trading 
schooner, which made periodical visits to accessible coves along 
shore, that it might exchange its miscellaneous stores for the fish the 
fishermen caught during the fishing season. 

The cellar, being well stocked with provisions, and the woodhouse 
filled with wood, everything was ship-shape for the coming of the long 
and tedious winter months. The boys had nothing to do now but 
take their guns and make havoc with the ducks and wild geese that 
flocked into the coves and the back ponds by thousands. 

Occasionally, they went fox hunting, for Reynard’s fur was getting 
into good shape, and fox skins, as well as wildcat pelts, were as good 
as ready money. On these excursions, which sometimes extended 
to the haunts of the bear, they were accompanied by Bony, who, 
though he was of a very mongrel breed — a dog with no aristocratic 
pretensions whatever — was as good at hunting as he was at round- 
ing up the cattle and sheep, and guarding them through the night 
against the too near approach of the vagrant animals of the woods. 

Mr. Melville, not content to remain at home during the winter, 
had planned a lecturing and revival tour, which was to extend from 
Yarmouth to Halifax, and continue till the spring returned. As this 
would involve more than two hundred miles of travel, as he would 
make it, he purchased a great black horse named Black Prince, 
whose mettle was as good as his name, 'With saddle, saddlebags 
and a big sealskin coat, extending from head to heels, the American 
was fully equipped for the journey that was to enable him to return 
with his saddlebags well weighted with the coin gathered along 
the way. 

The fish along shore had already left the rocks for winter quarters 
in the deeper waters of the sea, and even the clams were pulling in 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


35 


their heads and burrowing in the flats, preparatory to keeping them- 
selves from catching cold during the rigors of winter. The ravens 
and the gulls croaked and shrieked their discontent at these ar- 
rangements. for the clams and the small fish were their mainstay 
for food. They flew around the sheep and cattle, and doubtless 
wished that they were dead, so that the chances for pickings might 
be multiplied. 

There were few indications of life about Darling Rock now, but 
Dick and Jack were down there one mellow October afternoon 
watching the ships go by, and counting the number of sail they could 
see. High up in the sky, there were a few thin sheep-clouds scamp- 
ering about the field of blue, while below there was so little wind the 
whitecaps were hidden away, and the lazy waves scarcely broke as 
they crept among the rocks or rolled up the beach among the seals 
that were basking in the sun. 

“ It’s all very fine !” said Dick, after taking a professional look at 
sky and sea, “ but when the gulls go up to play with the sheep-clouds 
there’s mischief afloat, and the best thing we can do is to go the 
rounds and make everything snug and tight.” 

••Yes,” jack responded, "for the rocks are moaning, the sand- 
pipers are whistling warnings to one another, and the ducks and wild 
geese are leaving the sea and flying inland.” He was quite as 
weatherwise as his brother, thanks to the tuition of the canny old 
Scotchman, who was a whole weather bureau in himself. 

At the fishing cove they met their father, who, sniffing a storm, 
was going the rounds for himself. The three put the two fish-houses 
in order, and then, with the aid of block and pully, ran their three 
boats up the skids to the top of the cobble-beach where they would 
be safe from the highest tide and the farthest-reaching waves. 

An hour later the wind suddenly shifted to the southeast, bringing 
with it gray clouds that soon shut out every vestige of blue sky. By 
early evening the wind had increased to a gale ; the flying spray 
dashed against the cottage windows in sheets, and the loose rocks 
along the shore were being tossed about as if they were chips, and 
with a noise that sounded like a fusillade of musketry. But as there 


36 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


was nothing alarming in the strength of the gale, the family retired 
to rest at the usual time, thankful that they were not tossing upon the 
sea on board some belated vessel. 

Just as they had gotten fairly asleep there was a thunderous knock 
at the front door, followed immediately after by the shout of the 
Scotchman, saying; " Dominie ! dominie ! the de’il’s to pay. an’ ye 
maun come out an’ put ’im to flight!” 

“What do you mean, Wallace?” asked Mr. Melville, as soon as 
he could open the door and let the drenched Scotchman into the 
presence of the alarmed family. 

“ Look yon!” said Wallace, opening the door again, and pointing 
to a brilliant light shining on Port Mouton Head, where no earthly 
light had any business to be at that hour of the night. 

“What do you make of that?” asked Melville, more than half 
inclined to think that it was something supernatural, or at least phe- 
nominally electrical. 

“ Gin ye’ll come wi’ me I’ll show ye anither,” said Wallace, not 
that he had seen another, but because, like all other Scotchmen, he 
was quick to reason from one thing to another, and he argued in his 
own mind that the light was put there for a decoy, and that there 
would be another on Port jolli Head to complete the snare. 

“ I see what you are driving at/’ said Melville, gritting his teeth 
with wrath, “and yet it can hardly be possible. Boys,” he added, 
speaking to Dick and Jack, “ dress yourselves for work, and get your 
guns and go with us.” And he immediately put on storm clothes 
himself, and tucked a brace of pistols under his heavy overcoat, after 
satisfying himself that the Scotchman was armed for any emergency. 

Leaving the trembling family behind, they went down to the ex- 
treme end of Black Point, from which position they could see an- 
other clear light blazing on Little Port Jolli Head. 

“ The devils!” exclaimed Melville, for it was now clearly evident 
that the two lights had been set to make it appear that the open 
space between them was the entrance to a harbor, so that if there 
was any vessel near seeking refuge she would enter the gap and en- 
counter sure destruction on Devil’s Ledge or on Black Point itself. 


ON SABL£ ISLAND 


37 


“ Dinna stay to swear, dominie.” said Wallace, but let us gang 
twa an’ twa, in Screepture fashion, an’ quench the bleeze.” 

Melville saw at once what the man’s plan was. and he said, 
anxiously: “But there may be a half dozen armed desperadoes 
around each fire, and what could two do with such scoundrels?” 

“Na, na! dinna fear; they’ll no stay there, but will be in bed 
makin’ believe that they are sleepin’ thae sleep o’ thae just. We’ll 
gae like foxes, an’ whin we’ve put the fires out we’ll back to hame 
and bed again, an’ sleep a’ thae better for our walk.” 

“Then what’s the use of taking our guns?” asked Dick, whose 
blood being up, was not so readily cooled. 

“ Dinna fash versel’ aboot that ! ye ken the guns will Keep thae 
coorage in our banes ; sae let’s away. Ye’ll gang wi’ your father to 
thae Mingo side, an’ Jack will gae wi’ me to thae Wagner side ; it’s 
time thae lights were quenched.” 

When Dick and his father reached the Catherine’s river end of 
Port Join beach, the little skiff they kept there for ferry purposes 
was gone ; the men who kindled the lights had taken good care to 
guard themselves against intrusion from the Melville side of the 
beach. The dyke was some distance up the river ; Dick and his 
father moved in that direction, intending to cross that way, but the 
marshes were so deeply flooded all progress was barred. If the tide 
had been out, there might have been a chance to ford the stream by 
way of the sand shallows, but the tide, being at two-thirds flood, 
nothing remained but to return as they came. 

On reaching home, they found Jack and Wallace sitting by the 
fireside. Their report was identical with that made by Dick and his 
father; they had crossed Kempton’s beach, which was divided from 
Port Mouton Head by a small stream, and when they reached the 
crossing, the skiff kept there was also missing, and the waves were 
rolling up the shallows of the river with such force, it was impossible 
to find a fording among the quicksands. So here they were again, 
with nothing to do but to nurse their wrath. Both lights were still 
brightly burning, which showed that from the first they were started 
with solid barrels of rosin. Dick proposed that they light the lant- 


38 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


erns and go to Darling Rock and wave them by way of warning ; to 
this Wallace validly objected that the lanterns would be taken for 
vessel lights, and so would increase the danger to any vessel that 
might be in the offing. Being uneasy. Dick went out and watched 
the sea from the front of the house. He had been out but a few 
moments, when he rushed in, saying; 

••Rockets are going up from Devil's Ledge !” 

Nor was the alarm a false one. When the others reached the 
door they saw the rockets that were being sent up from the direction 
of the ledge. The false lights had wrought their mission, and a crew 
of men were in the jaws of a danger which made escape seem almost 
impossible. Nevertheless, Melville promptly said: ••We must 
launch the Carolina and try to reach them from the cove. Mother, 
you must take a lantern and stand at the south arm of the cove to 
keep our bearings for us.” 

•• Yes,” she said quietly, and at once began her preparations. 

There were no life-saving stations along the shore then, but Mel- 
ville and Wallace, and Dick and Jack were all sturdy rowers, and 
terrible as was the task before them, there was no shrinking. The 
dinky was soon afloat, and then began the struggle. Once out of 
the shelter of the cove, the wind being dead on shore, they had to 
go into the very teeth of the storm. But they made headway, and 
were slowly forging beyond the foarn-linc of the shore, when Mel- 
ville shouted to Jack: •• Rest your oar while we hold ahead, and see 
if you can make the vessel out.” 

Promptly obeying. Jack, after a swift survey, said; •• It’s a bark ; 
foremast gone ; and, by Jove ! she’s gone over the ledge and is 
drifting straight for the beach, which she will strike not far from 
Darling Rock.” 

•• Very gude !” shouted Wallace ; •• she’ll gae on at the top of the 
tide, an’ if thae men hae kep’ thae decks thus far they’ll hae Ian’ 
aneath their feet in less than an hour. But it’s death for us to try 
to follow her in the surf o’ the beach. Nor can we turn aboot in 
this sea. Back now, stern-foremost, for thae cove again. Catch no 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


39 


crabs wi’ thae oars; if we swing broadside to this sea, we’ll be thae 
shipwracked anes.” 

And, so holding their head steadily to the in-sweeping sea, and 
keeping a sharp eye upon the lantern glimmering upon the rocks 
astern, they backed to the cove in safety. Mrs. Melville was drip- 
ping with the spray that had dashed over her during the watch. 
After seeing her back to the cottage, the others took her lantern and 
another one with it and hurried to the beach. The bark had already 
struck, and, lying broadside-on, the surf made a clean sweep over 
her. Seeing the lanterns on shore, and gathering courage there- 
from, those on board fastened a strong rope to an empty water-cask, 
to which was joined a lighter endless line by a sliding loop. When 
the cask reached the beach, the stronger line was staked strongly in 
the sand, while the lighter one was pulled ashore, and the action of 
it, between the vessel and the beach, was such that in less than half 
an hour the whole crew — fourteen men — stood on the beach unin- 
jured, though chilled to the bone with the drenching they had 
received. 

“ What place is this?” asked the captain, the moment he landed, 
he being the last to arrive. 

•• Black Point,” said Melville, knowing the rest that was coming. 

“And those lights — what’s the meaning of them?” this, angrily. 

“ It means that the devil and his minions have been at work.” 

" May hell’s curse blight them in mind and body.” 

"Amen!” responded Melville, solemnly, yet heartily. “What 
vessel is that ?” he added. 

“The bark America, bound from Boston to St. Johns, Newfound- 
land, with an assorted cargo of notions and general merchandise. 
Thank heaven ! we’ve come ashore in such shape that not a scrap 
of cargo will ’ reach the devils who lured us here. And if any 
attempt is made to pillage us, we'll bury the thieves and would-be 
murderers alive.” 

“Amen! to that, too,” exclaimed Melville, promptly. “ I am an 
American, and a clergyman ; my name is Melville. We started in 


40 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


our boat for the ledge, but seeing that Providence was ahead of us, 
put back to shore and hastened to meet you here.” 

" And my name is John Doane, of Salem, at your service ; I’m 
deuced glad to know that there are saints here as well as devils. 
But for a high wave, that carried us off the ledge before we cracked 
our keel, we should now be at the bottom of the ocean, and you, too, 

1 fear, for your boat could not have lived through such a sea as was 
running shoreward. It was a brave thing for four men to attempt.” 
As yet he had not discovered that two of the crew were mere boys. 

“We’ll not speak of that now," said Mr. Melville, uncomfortably. 
“ My sons will take you to my house, where you can dry yourselves, 
while we watch here till daybreak. The bark lies easy, and with the 
going out of the tide, she’ll be so high and dry you can board her 
without wetting your feet.” 

“ Ye’ll no tek a’ the men to brek your leddy’s back,” said Wal- 
lace, bluntly. “ Gie me half o’ the men.” 

“ Are there only two houses here?” asked the captain. 

“That’s all, but we can make you very comfortable,” Melville 
replied. 

“ You are very good, and we’ll avail ourselves of your offer ; but 
our bark is in such good shape, though she’ll never float again, that 
we can go on board of her as soon as this surf is lower, and live there 
as if nothing had happened.” 

The wreckers were foiled; their itching fingers couldn’t touch so 
much as a scrap of the wrecked vessel’s cargo ; and the captain 
swore that if there was any justice in Nova Scotia they’d be hunted 
down and shut up for life. 

The storm was not only an unwelcome visitor to the men of the 
bark, but it brought disaster to Mr. Melville. On the next tide the 
gale increased in fury. The stone wall in front of the cottage was 
swept away, and rocks as big as barrels rolled in and destroyed the 
Culpepper meadow. Both fish-houses were blown over and the con- 
tents washed along the shore. The boats were blown into a swamp. 
Later, the barn blew down, killing many of the sheep and most of 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


41 


the cattle. Hay that was stacked near the Witch of Endor was 
scattered like feathers. 

When the wind had spent itself, Dick and Jack were sent out to 
report the condition of the canal and the dyke, and came back say- 
ing that the canal was filled from one end to the other, the sea-wall 
of sand and bush was blown down to a dead level, and new entrances 
made by the waves had carried the sand in ruinous quantities over 
the marshes: the costly dyke, with its splendid sluices, was a wreck, 
and there was an end of all the great expectations cherished for the 
redemption of Black Point from the empire of the sea. There were 
but seventeen sheep left, one yoke of oxen, and one cow and calf. 

Mr. Melville drew a deep sigh, when the boys ended the cata- 
logue of disasters, but made no complaint. ‘-And where is Black 
Prince,” he finally asked, expecting that the horse also had gone in 
the general wreck. 

•• Oh, he’s up by the Witch of Endor, stern to the wind, and crop- 
ping grass as cool as a cucumber,” said Jack, gladly, “ and when 1 
went up to him, he rubbed his nose against my shoulder long enough 
to say ‘ how d’ ye do ?’ and then went on eating.” 

" Well, with him left. 1 can still carry out my plans about my 
winter work.” said Melville, quite cheerfully. 

‘And though the fish-houses are upset, we can end them up 
again, and when we examined the boats, we found them safe and 
sound, for all they were dumped in the swamp like so many feathers. 
We can skid them out again as easy as dirt, and when halibut fish- 
ing comes again. Jack and 1 will pitch in harder than ever.” Seeing 
that his father was not broken down by his misfortunes. Dick was so 
immensely relieved, he hastened to pick up what few crumbs of 
comfort there were lying around. 

“Yes, I think we’ll have to go into the fishing business harder 
than ever,” said his father, smiling. “ It’s a good thing the sea can- 
not blow itself out of its own jacket.” he added. 

“ And that' no storm can prevent the game from coming back 
again,” said Jack, “ There’s no danger of our starving yet awhile.” 

“ Now, that Black Prince is safe. Dick will have to ride him to 


42 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


Port Join, as soon as the storm goes down, and carry letters for the 
mail,” said Mr. Melville, who, with the captain, had been busy writ- 
ing during the boys’ absence. *• Captain Doane is anxious to get 
the agents of his owners and underwriters here as soon as possible 
and I am just as anxious to summon the government officers for an 
investigation into the cause of the wreck.” 

If the letters are ready,” replied Dick, eagerly, •• I can get off 
at once, and reach the highway in time to meet the Yarmouth mail- 
coach up, and then have plenty of time to get back again before 
night sets in.” 

After consultation, it was decided to let him go, and Dick, mounted 
on the great, gaunt, black steed, disappeared into the gray mists, and 
accomplished his important errand without a mishap. 

When the agents came, it was seen that it was too late in the 
season to think of transferring cargo to other vessels. The sailors 
were returned to their homes, while Captain Doane and his first 
officer made arrangements to winter on board as keepers of the 
bark, and as witnesses, in case the law found anyone to indict for 
causing the wreck. 

The Frenchman and the Hollander were arrested for the crime, 
but as no direct evidence could be obtained against them, they were 
discharged, after being in prison six months. After their liberation, 
they and their families disappeared from their old haunts, and by the 
Melvilles, were never heard of afterward. 



N STEAD of desponding over 
his losses, Mr. Melville departed 
on his lecturing and preaching 
tour in the best of spirits. When 
he returned in the spring he re- 
versed his saddlebags over the 
table and poured out $367.00 in 
sliver and gold. 

“There, mother,” said he, 
"you see that the gift of gab isn’t a bad thing to have, providing 
you don’t make folk so sick of it that they become perfectly 'billing 

43 


44 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


that you should have that — and that alone. 1 have had one of the 
most pleasant tours 1 ever made. Most of the people had read of 
our misfortunes in the papers, and 1 am more indebted to their sym- 
pathy for this money than I am to my own ability in lecturing and 
preaching. Their kindness was extended to Black Prince, who was 
so constantly fed on oats by my entertainers, that 1 was afraid his 
coltish antics would destroy what little ministerial reputation I had 
left. In Halifax he carried himself so high the officers of the garri- 
son made the most tempting offers for him, and Mr. Uniacke, one 
of the gentlemen hunting here at the time Dick shot the wildcat in 
the cellar, offered me my own price for him.” 

“ ! would rather have had you come home without the money than 
without Black Prince,” Dick confessed, candidly. 

•• Why, you wouldn’t sell him any more than you would sell sister 
Mary, would *you ?” said Jack, earnestly. “ He's the only hand- 
some thing we’ve got on Black Point. If oats will make such an 
improvement in me I’ll go to eating them right away.” jack wasn’t 
naturally partial to porridge. 

We need the horse to go for the mail.” Mrs. Melville said, in 
her practical way. ‘‘ Every time the boys make that dismal journey - 
I am on nettles till they get back. Fourteen miles on foot, counting 
both ways, is too dear a price to pay for any papers or letters we 
happen to get.” 

“ Oh, no, mother!” Dick exclaimed. “ How could we have got- 
ten along through the long winter without hearing from father, and 
getting news from th'e world besides ?” 

“ Black Prince seems to be of almost as much account as 1 am,” 
laughed Mr. Melville, “ but let me say that I have as good opinions 
of him as the rest of you, and there is little danger of him leaving us 
unless he takes a notion to run away of his own accord. And now. 
to change the subject, how are Captain Doane and his mate ? They 
must have had a very tedious winter.” 

“ They are both well, but they thought it tedious enough, when 
they had to go to court as witnesses, though they said they’d be will- 
ing to walk a hundred miles if their evidence would convict the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


45 


wreckers. When they got back they said you must be awfully stucK 
on Black Point and Nova Scotia, to be willing to live here with such 
winters as we have. The mate says he would rather live in prison 
in the States than to live out of jail here.” Dick took great satis- 
faction in making this dig at Black Point. 

The boys spent a good many of their evenings with the officers 
in their cabin,” Mrs. Melville said, “and the captain and his mate 
told them a good many things about their voyages and the United 
States.” 

“Yes, they are as full of the States as you are, father,” said 
Dick. 

“ I dare say,” responded Mr. Melville, rubbing his black, up-stand- 
ing hair, while mischievous twinkles chased one another through his 
sharp, dark eyes. “ 1 hope they didn’t make rebels of you; being 
born in Nova Scotia makes you English subjects, .you know.” 

“ But haven’t you told us,” Dick exclaimed, “ that, being born of 
American parents, who never took the oath of allegiance here, we 
have the right to say that we are American subjects?” 

“ That is correct, too, and you can claim the protection of either 
flag: it isn’t everyone who can claim that privilege.” 

“ I'd rather be one thing, and let it go at that; I claim the stars 
and stripes,” said Jack, loftily. 

“We’ve been taking lessons while you were away,” Dick said, 
looking at his father mischievously. “ Captain Doane says that his 
bark is still under American protection, and, though he didn’t believe 
in playing the smarty, he had the right to raise the flag over his 
vessel, for all she is perched high and dry on English land. She 
isn’t condemned yet, and he was so lonesome, every pleasant Sun- 
day Jack and I would go down there, and then the bunting went up 
to the mizzen-peak, and we four would stand on the quarter-deck and 
sing ‘ America.’ 

" I respect the English flag, for it is the flag of the mother of 
America, but it doesn’t thrill me like the stars and stripes. Every 
time we ran that flag up, it made me feel as if I wanted to breathe 
clear down to my toes, and to lift my head two or three inches 


46 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


higher. It doesn’t make me feel like bragging, but it does make me 
feel as if I wanted to do something that was worth bragging about.” 

“ The captain laughed to see how much we enjoyed hoisting the 
flag,” said Jack, “ but he wasn’t making fun of us ; for even when he 
was laughing at us one Sunday, 1 saw him wipe his eyes, and blow 
his nose, and turn his head, as if he didn’t want us to see him.” 

“ But I watched him,” interrupted Dick, “ and seeing him shak- 
ing about the gills, 1 began to get kind of queer myself.” 

You see, mother, that blood will tell,” Mr. Melville remarked, in 
a musing sort of way. 

“ So it seems,” was the reply. 

During the weeks that followed, the bark was emptied of her 
cargo, stripped of her rigging and abandoned to her fate. While 
the work was going on, Dick and jack were well paid for assisting, 
for their acquaintance with the surf, with the effects of the wind and 
tide, and with all the shoals near, made their services very valuable 
to the agents. 

When the captain left, he said to the boys more in earnest than in 
jest : •* The bark is yours boys as long as she lasts, or at least as long 
as you live in this wretched place. She doesn’t look very pretty as 
she is, but she looks much better than the Witch of Endor. And. 
by the way, you’ll find a keg of white paint in the galley, and if I were 
in your place I’d take it and paint the old witch out of sight, and then 
saw off the eagle figure-head of the bark and hoist it to the top of 
that big boulder. And if you’ll drill a couple of holes in the top of 
the rock and bolt the eagle’s feet to the rock, so that he’ll face the 
sea, he’ll stand there in spite of all the storms that blow upon this 
coast. Then, too, the gilding on it is thick, and will last a long 
time ” 

The boys did as was suggested, and often while they were fishing 
in the offing they could plainly see the eagle looking toward them 
and glistening resplendently in the rays of the sun. 

Those who live only in the city or in the thick of society are apt 
to look upon their fellow-creatures as so many stocks and stones, or 
so many machines put in motion by the forces around them. On 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


47 


the other hand, those who live in solitude come to look upon even 
inanimate things as living friends or enemies. Dick and Jack had 
fallen into this last way of thinking and feeling, and doubtless the 
reader will think it a better way than the one first mentioned. They 
called the eagle on the rock Uncle Sam, and it is certain that no 
uncle they had ever known or heard of had such a powerful and 
wholesome influence over them. In all their disputes or doubts they 
would say : 

•• What would Uncle Sam think about it > What would he do?” 

The answer usually reached by this sort of appeal was generally 
the end of all controversy, so that, whether on land or sea, they came 
to regard Uncle Sam as superior to any genii they had ever read of 
in the “Arabian Nights.” He gave them all the advice they needed, 
and then made them work out their own salvation ; they trusted to 
him for wisdom and to themselves for works. And if any of us ever 
come to anything it will be because we have run our affairs on the 
same kind of road. 

Not long after the recognition of Uncle Sam, Dick and Jack were 
hunting halibut near the Little Hope, a tall beacon, erected on an 
ugly ledge, which was a long distance from the shore, to warn ves- 
sels against venturing inside, where shoals and rocks abounded. 
They had scarcely dropped there skillit— a small stone anchor en- 
cased in tough birch cross-pieces — when a pert, rakish-looking 
schooner, of about sixty tons burden, luffed into the wind to the 
windward of them, and. setting the stars and stripes in the main rig- 
ging, signaled to them to come on board. 

•• That’s a beauty of a craft ! I wonder what she wants of us.” 
said Dick. “ Pull up the skillit. Jack, and we’ll go on board and find 
out. She looks like a regular Uncle Sammer.” 

As they ran under the stern of the stranger, they laughed when 
they read the name, “You Bet, of Eastport, Maine.” 

They were no sooner on deck, than a lean, lank man, of about 
thirty-five, asked; “ Is there any place inside there where a fellow 
of my size can run in and spend a few days without being eaten up 
by the fish ? I draw about seven feet when I’m down as deep as I 


48 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


can load. I’m buying halibut and cod, and if the You Bet’s nose 
can get in there, we’ll run in for a few days.” 

On this side of Black Point there is, but not on the other,” 
Dick answered. “ I can run you into Mingo cove, where you will be 
as safe as a clam in its shell ; it’s so land-locked that a hurricane 
couldn’t drag you from your anchors.” 

“ Then you know all the bottom about here? Don’t you know 
most too much for so young a chap?” 

If you had fished over this bottom as much I have, you’d know 
something, too,” replied Dick, nettled by the skipper’s incredulous 
manner. 

“ Oh, don’t get roily! I reckon you’re just the chap I’m hunting 
for. Sling your boat astern, and take the wheel, and slap the You 
Bet into that cove as soon as you can.” 

While Jack was fastening the Carolina astern, Dick, after going 
to the wheel, said to the skipper: “ Take in your foresail and fly- 
ing-jib. We’ll go in easy, so that if we happen to bump against a 
rock, it won’t knock your cutwater off or scrape the keel away.” 

The five sailors, who formed the crew, while grinning from ear to 
ear at his handling of the skipper, skurried away to quarters to obey 
the young pilot’s orders. Turning the You Bet completely round, 
stem for stern, Dick steered into a network of shoals and ledges that 
might have appalled a much older head; but he ran with such evi- 
dent knowledge of what he was about, that the skipper and his mate 
watched his movements in silent admiration. 

Presently, while running along a rocKy shore, that seemed to be 
without a break, Dick suddenly down helm, and the schooner sheered 
into a narrow opening that let her into a sandy-bottomed basin per- 
fectly sheltered on every side. 

“Well, does this suit you?” he asked, after he ordered the anchor 
down and had left the wheel. 

" To a dot 1” acknowledged the skipper. “ It’s as cozy as a cuddy 
hole, and as safe as the inside of a jug! Now, what are the 
damages?” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


49 


“ Five dollars for bringing you in. but it will cost you $10.00 to 
get out.” 

" Gosh ! You’re sharp enough to be a Yankee !" and the skipper, 
in his surprise, squirted a flood of tobacco juice over the rail, which 
stood six feet away. “ Well, I’m agreed,” he continued, seeing that 
Dick meant business, “ but I s’pose you’ll be willing to take it out 
in trade ?” 

Out — in — trade ? You said you came to buy. not to sell.” Here 
was cause for suspicion. 

" Of course! of course! That’s all right, young man! If you’ve 
got any cod or halibut, fetch ’em along, 1 reckon I’ve change enough 
on board to pay you for all you bring.” But the skipper’s face was 
as red under his swarthy skin as if it had been suddenly smeared 
with paint. 

“ All right; but I’ll take my $5.03 now, and the $10.00 when I 
board you to take you out.” 

The skipper knew all the while that Dick’s charge was low ; he 
knew also that he himself had made a blunder which had aroused 
Dick’s suspicions, and to cover things over, he said ; “ There’s 
$10.00 for you now, $5.00 for the come-in, and half down be- 
sides to bind the bargain for the go-out. Does that make it all 
right ?” 

“ Yes, all right. I’ll be on hand, but we must pick a wind off 
shore to get out. We can't go beating and tacking about inside 
the Little Hope ; there are too many shoals and sunken rocks to 
look after.” 

“You understand your business as well as an old salt,” said 
the skipper, but he didn’t look Dick in the eyes as confidently 
as he did as first, for there were too many interrogation points in 
them. 

The You Bet laid in the cove several days buying all the dried fish 
she could get, which was all legitimate enough ; but in addition to 
this, and with an impudence characteristic of some of the Yankee 
fishermen, who make no bones of breaking the coast laws of Nova 
Scotia, she sent her boats among the shoals and fished for mackerel 


50 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


and cod in violation of the three-mile limit. And, worse than this, 
she sold smuggled goods, of which she carried quite a stock — traded 
them for cured fish, which the Port Jolli fishermen brought in in 
large quantities as soon as they heard of the opportunity. That both 
parties were willing to break the laws didn’t make the transaction 
right. Dick and Jack knew this well enough, and when they carried 
their halibut and cod to the vessel they insisted upon receiving hard 
cash for them, although the family stood much in need of some of 
the things the Yankee was peddling along shore. But it was not 
their place to play the part of informers, and they left the revenue 
officers to look after their own business. 

A day came, however, when they found themselves in a very tight 
place. They had walked over the beach to make You Bet a visit, 
and while they were in the cabin talking with the skipper, the mate 
entered and said that a revenue cutter had made her appearance 
outside of the Little Hope, and she was lowering a boat with the 
evident intention of making the vessel a visit of inspection. The 
skipper immediately ordered the vessel to make ready for sea. 

Addressing Dick, he said ; “ Pilot, you are just in time. Get us 
us out of this scrape and I’ll give you $50.00.” 

“ I’ll take the other five according to contract, but not a cent 
more,” said Dick, not stopping to consider all the bearings of case. 

You’d better hurry about setting sail ; put on every stitch you’ve 
got : the wind is abeam, and I can run you a course that’ll take you 
clear of the cutter without fail. She can’t come inside of Little 
Hope, because she draws too much water, but knowing everything 
about here I can run the inside course and slip out of her sight 
while she is taking the long course outside. Are you a fast 
sailor ?” 

*• Fast as a witch ! Can show my neeis to almost anything.” 

But what will Uncle Sam say ?” asked Jack of Dick, while the 
crew were making things hum about the decks. 

“ He’d say: ‘ Get her clear if you can. and we’ll settle the rights 
and wrongs of it after the mare has left the stable.’ ” 

Jack wasn’t exactly satisfied with the answer, yet he went to the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


51 


ropes with the crew of the vessel, saying to himself: “ I’ll think it 
out when we are out of the scrape.” 

Dick was now at the wheel, and the You Bet. with bow to 
the open sea, was keeling her lee-scuppers to the water-line and 
bowling along like a racer. 

The cutter’s boat returned in a hurry, and the cutter, crowd- 
ing on all sail bore away in chase on the outer or long line of 
the course, hoping to outsail the You Bet and to overtake her where 
the deep sea met Port Mouton Head. Discovering that the Yankee 
was by far the faster sailor, the cutter sent a blank shot across the 
fleeing schooner’s bow. 

“ You can blank as much as you please !” exclaimed the skipper, 
“ and send solid shot, too, if you want to ; I’m the cat that jumped 
the bag.” 

Jack had joined Dick at the spokes of the wheel, and the skipper, 
standing by to receive Dick’s orders about trimming sails to the 
occasionally changing course, as he luffed or bore away according 
to the necessities of the case, experienced an admiration which 
almost neutralized his anxiety. 

“Well, I swan! You fellers beat Maine punkins I” he exclaimed, 
when the schooner sailed by the edge of Black Point .and struck an 
arrov/ course for Port Mouton Head. 

He ducked his head hastily, when a solid shot from the cutter 
went through the mainsail, and, ricochetting, skimmed the waves till 
it buried itself in the sands of Kempton’s beach, within plain sight of 
the Melville home. Another, and another shot was fired, one of 
which, striking the rail, made the splinters fly, but beyond this did no 
harm. The schooner soon bounded into the deep swell beyond Port 
Mouton Head, and the chase was at an end. 

“The rascals I” exclaimed Mr. Melville, who, with glass in hand, 
watched the whole race, knowing that only his own boys could have 
carried the schooner through the network of hidden dangers into the 
outer sea. 

“ The^ confounded scamps!” wiping the beads of perspiration 
from his brow. “ Here’s another cucumber to my pot of pickles. 


52 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


Some are shaking their heads at my fast horse ; others are 
saying that my misfortunes here were sent upon me to pun- 
ish me for leaving the pastorate. When they hear that the 
boys have run a smuggler away from the revenue cutter, they’ll say 
that the minister’s sons are going to the dogs with him as fast as 
they can go.” Yet there was a broad smile on his face, and it was 
plain enough that he wasn’t feeling very badly, though he was so 
peppery in his exclamations. 

He again levelled his glass upon the fleeing vessel, and seeing a 
wad of bunting rising from the deck, he watched it till it reached the 
maintop where, now fully unfolded, it disclosed the stars and stripes, 
flaming in all their glory, 

"The impudent scoundrels!” was what he said, but "Hurrah, 
hurrah!” was in his heart, and in spite of everything, mouth 
and heart will sometimes pull as widely apart as a contrary pair 
of oxen. 

Mrs. Melville, with a fine glass that had been given to her by Captain 
Doane, was also an interested spectator of the flight. Standing in 
the doorway of the cottage, she saw Dick and Jack standing at the 
wheel, while the You Bet flung the spray from her bow, and although 
the booming of the cutter’s gun aroused her fears, the distance so 
rapidly widening between the two vessels thrilled her with joy. 
When the down-easter disappeared behind the Point in safety, Mrs. 
Melville’s conscience began to smite her for sympathizing with a 
smuggler and a fish thief, but her conscience was somewhat relieved, 
when, on comparing notes with her husband, she discovered that he 
was as great a sinner as herself. 

" But how will the boys get back?” she asked, beginning to worry 
about them. 

" Let me see,” he replied. " The Yankee will drop them on Port 
Mouton beach, and that will give them a five-mile walk before they 
reach home. They will be in a hurry to get here, and will arrive 
about nine o’clock. They will be as hungry as lobsters, and we must 
have a good supper waiting for them.” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


53 


At twenty minutes past nine the boys came in looking worn and 
rather sheepish, and their father greeted them by saying: 

"You are a pretty pair of dogs, and ought to have a round dose 
of cat-o’-nine-tails for this day’s work !” But, as the medicine that 
was in his eyes and face took away the sting that was in his words, 
and as there was the nice, hot supper awaiting their voracious appe- 
tites, the boys began to laugh, Dick saying: 

" Blood will tell, father, so what’s the use of making believe that 
you would be willing to see us hung for this day’s work?” 


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TRIP OF THE SEASON 


ACK ! Wake up. there, and 
stir your stumps !” 

“Ye — s, r — m coming," 
Jack sleepily answered to 
Dick’s impatient call. 

Dick dressed himself, and 
on turning to see how Jack 
♦'« was getting along, he found 
' him sleeping as soundly as 
if sleep should no more be 
broken than window lights 
or china dishes. 

“You log!” and Dick 
lifted Jack out of bed bodily and steadied him on his feet until his 
eyes .were fairly open. 


r>5 


56 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


"Oh, 1 forgot! this is halibut day, isn’t it? — and the last of the 
season ; wish yesterday had been the last.” 

" Yes, and just look out of the window and see what a day it’s 
going to be.” 

The boys’ room, which was simply boarded off from the rest of 
the rough, unfinished attic, had a single window, but it was a window 
with a liberal outlook. From it could be seen Darling Rock, Uncle 
Sam, the whole length of Kempton’s beach, and the ugly looking 
profile of Port Mouton Head, all glowing in the red rays of the 
rising sun. There, too, was the lazy surf rolling on the beach and 
the wide-awake gulls skimming over it in search of their break- 
fasts. 

Jack looked out, and now fully on the alert, said: " Yes, splen- 
did. and so calm that even the waves have forgotten to show their 
teeth among the rocks.” 

While they were eating smoked halibut for breakfast. Dick said ; 
" There’ll be fresh halibut for supper, mother — a good fat slice out of 
the very fin itself, and the halibut we get to-day will not be put up for 
sale, but kept for home use, and we are going to pickle its fins and 
smoke its cuts to suit ourselves.” 

" Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched,” cautioned 
Mr. Melville. 

" I never do when handling such flimsy things as eggs, but the 
halibut is a bird of another feather, as you’ll admit, and you never 
knew us to go after them without having at least one with us when 
we came back.” 

" Now, that I think of it, you are rarely astray in the halibut busi- 
ness,” acknowledged Mr. Melville, “so it is safe enough to depend 
upon fresh halibut for supper. This is the third day of Septem- 
ber, and it is time that our winter supply of fins and strips was safe 
in hand.” 

After breakfast, Dick said: " Now, for the clams; take the clam 
bucket. Jack, I’ll take the shovel. We must hurry, for we ought to 
be off there by the ledge at low tide.” Once on the flats back of 
Kempton’s beach, it did not take them tong to get all the bait they 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


57 


wanted. Dick relished clams from their native dish, and, having 
secured what was necessary for business, he felt like trying one of 
them for pleasure. Deftly opening the shells, which enclosed a 
good-sized clam, he next opened his mouth, threw his head back, 
and gulped the pulpy creature down with as much relish as if it were 
a chocolate drop or a candied plum. 

"Take one. Jack.” he said, " it will make a capital finish to your 
breakfast.” 

" No, sir ! No clams for me till mother has put a coat of egg- 
batter around them and fried them, or has made them up into one 
of her clam chowders. I’d as soon think of eating raw fish as to 
think of downing a raw clam. Mother can make a frog jump down 
your throat when she has given it a turn or two in the frying pan.” 

" Yes,” Dick replied, proudly, " when it comes to pots and kettles, 
she maxes them beat Aladdin’s lamp and the four and twenty black- 
birds, besides.’” 

"You are getting off fire-crackers, now.” Mr. Melville cautioned 
his boys against exaggerations, calling them fire-crackers to be 
sparingly used. This was what Jack alluded to. 

They had to pass the cottage on their way to their boat, and there 
they found their mother waiting for them. 

" You must get back in time for dinner, boys, she said, " we are 
to have roast duck, and I want you to get your share while it is hot 
and fresh from the oven.” 

•• Never fear about that, mother. If there is anything good 
around in the eating line, you know we always get our share,” said 
Jack, quickly. 

" It is so early, you will have a long forenoon of it, and If you’ll 
wait a moment. I’ll give you a jug of buttermilk, some bread and 
butter and the rest of the rabbit stew that was left over from last 
night. I don’t want you to come home with too big appetites, for 
there are only two ducks, and seven of us to feed,” and the mother 
laughed at herself for trying to be funny. 

" You are a brick, mother, and know what is Inside of a boy to a 
dot. What is better to have at sea than a jug of fresh buttermilk 


58 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


and a good slice or two of your bread?” and Jack went into rhe 
pantry with her to get the lunch she had so thoughtfully provided. 

Mr. Melville was grooming Black Prince, of whose glossy coat he 
was quite proud, and so did not go down to the cove with them, as he 
usually did when the boys went out to sea. 

The Carolina was their favorite boat, and was always selected for 
open sea work. Having used her so much, in both fair and foul 
v/eather, they felt almost as safe in her as if they were at home in 
the cottage. They had performed perilous experiments with her in 
the surf of the beach when they wanted a bit of rough sport, and 
hence, knew that it was almost impossible to upset her. 

Although there was no wind, they put both sprit-sails on board, and 
v/ith two oars apiece, and rowing wide-handed, as it is called, they 
went skimming over the glassy ground-swell with hearts that were as 
buoyant as their boat. 

She’s looking at us,” said Jack, catching a glimpse of his mother 
standing on the upland at the corner of the house watching the re- 
ceding boat. Resting their oars upon the gunwales, both boys stood 
upon the thwarts and swung their tarpaulin hats in salute. They 
knew that she saw them, for she removed the kerchief from her 
neck, and, saluting back again, disappeared in the house. 

Swinging silently now to their oars, they gave themselves up to 
thoughts that neither boy nor man is ever ashamed of unless he is 
worse than dead. 

Reaching the Devil’s Ledge, that being the place where they gen- 
erally found the largest fish, they made immediate preparations for 
business, jack retained his oars, and backed as near to the ledge 
as the sweep of the swell would admit, while Dick made ready his 
fifty fathoms of strong cod-line, by attaching one end securely to a 
thwart, and tying several clams with small twine to the big hook at 
the other end, which was weighted with heavy sinkers. 

“There she goes,” he said, as he flung the line astern, with a 
throw that carried out four or five fathoms. Presently, he spoke 
again, saying : “There’s something fooling with that bait, but it 
doesn’t take hold hard enough for a halibut. It’s some sea-sneak 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


59 


that means to get away with those clams piecemeal ; guess I’ll pull 
up to see what is going on. Oh. it’s a lobster; 1 know him by the 
way he is backing with that paddle-tail of his. He is a big chap, 
too, judging from the weight he shows up.” 

When the intruder was landed, it proved to be an enormous deep- 
sea lobster, green as jealousy, and so hideously ugly that his photo- 
graph might have been taken and exhibited as a picture of that most 
unlovely of all the passions. 

•• My gracious!” Jack exclaimed, “ take care where you put that 
fellow, Dick! 1 wouldn’t care to have him stand up and give me a 
hug. He’s almost as big as a good-sized bear cub.” 

“ I wish he had staid at home. When I’m sending out invita- 
tions to halibut. I’d thank the lobsters to keep their places till they 
are invited to leave them. His ugly claws have mashed my bait 
into a jelly.” 

“ But I’m glad you pulled him in, he’s such an astonisher. If our 
dog gets his tail into one of those claws, the lobster will wag the dog 
instead of the dog wagging the lobster.” 

The lobster raised himself on his roughly booted and fearfully 
spurred legs, and made such a decided move in Jack’s direction that 
the boy jumped upon the thwart, exclaiming : “ Oh, cracky! Dick ! 
he’s coming this way. For mercy’s sake throw a rope around him 
and belay him in your own part of the boat. I’d as soon shake hands 
with a blacksmith’s vice as to have him shake hands with me with 
that right claw of his.” 

Dick laughed, but knowing that a nip from such a visitor was not 
to be courted, he threw a rope abaft the lobster’s claws and made 
him fast to one of the tholpins. After struggling with his fetters 
awhile the armored Goliah grew quiet, yet the restlessness of his long 
protruding eyes showed that he was doing a heap of thinking. Doubt- 
less he was wondering what sort of a world his sins had gotten him 
into ; and doubtless, too, the boys looked more hideous to him than 
he did to them, for the looks of things depend a good deal upon where 
and how one has been brought up. 

Jack seized his oars again, and looking down at the lobster’s 


60 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


crusty feet, said: " I’m glad I’m not in those shoes of his, and 
that I don't have to wear such mittens as he has on his hands. 
Wonder how we should feel if instead of having our bones where no- 
body can see them we had them plastered all over our outsides as 
his are !” 

“ If you are going to wonder at everything you see in this world 
you’ll have a busy time of it,” Dick said, while putting on another 
batch of bait. 

“ If lobster eyes are made to squirm around like that isn’t it a 
hint for us to stir our minds a bit,” Jack retorted, sharply. 

“ Your mind ought to be satisfied with your doings, for you are al- 
ways turning stones over to see what’s under them ; for my part I'm 
content to let the bugs and worms keep themselves out of sight. 
Row ahead a little, and we’ll see what we can turn up next, if you 
are so anxious to know what’s going on below.” 

Now, your halibut is a retiring sort of body, and that is probably 
the reason why so many of them resorted to such an out of the way 
place as Black Point. He does not make himself conspicuous by 
swimming about in the middle and upper waters like most other fish, 
but sticks to the bottom, where he can the more easily gratify his retir- 
ing disposition by flapping the sand or mud over his broad yet thin 
body by a few convenient movements of his big fins. 

His modesty is further shown by the way he dresses. His upper 
suit is composed entirely of a dull, neutral gray, with just the faintest 
suggestion of spots here and there ; his under clothing is of the 
most spotless white, which he modestly conceals by keeping it 
constantly turned toward the sand beneath him. You might think 
that this would soil his linen, yet, water being plenty, he has a way 
of doing his own laundrying that keeps his underwear as white as in- 
nocence itself. 

His head is so small, compared with the rest of his body, it would 
seem as if his capacity could not be very great, yet you can see 
from the way he carries his eyes that he is no fool of a fish ; one 
eye is turned downward, so as to see everything going on below, and 
the other upward, to observe what takes place there. There is so 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


61 


much more going on above than below, and the upper eye has so 
much more work to do than the lower, that it is by far the 
larger of the two, and this detracts somewhat from the hali- 
but’s beauty. 

Big, as he generally is, he hasn’t much mouth to speak of, yet it 
is so well armed with long, needle-like teeth, and is placed so nearly 
midway between the eyes, that he can manage to get a living with- 
out placing too great a strain upon the rest of his body. 

Take an elm leaf and lay it flat upon its belly, and its shape will 
give you a very good idea of the shape of the halibut, as well as of 
his natural position. To complete the resemblance, however, you 
should add a tan for the fin of the tail ; for the rest, the saw-like 
edges of the leaf will answer very well for the fin that runs along 
both sides of the halibut, all the way from his tail to where the head, 
without the aid of any neck, joins the body. 

To be sure, a dead halibut is rather coarse eating, but he is not to 
blame for that. Upon the whole, he is a quiet, unobtrusive gentle- 
man, making no fuss unless compelled to fight for his life. Young 
halibut are very rarely caught, being too shrewd to be taken for 
gudgeons, while the old ones are so eager to bite they are easily 
taken in and done for. In the halibut world the old saw which was 
so often quoted at us when we were young is entirely reversed, and 
reads: “ Old folks think young folks to be fools, but young folks 
know old folks to be fools.” 

“ Give way there. Jack; you are not pulling fast enough,” cried 
Dick, seeing that Jack had fallen into one of his fits of thinking and 
was not paying much attention to present business, which, by the way, 
is a bad habit for anybody to get into. 

“Give way, you have it!” repeated Jack, and the boat made a 
sudden spurt ahead. The movement took up the slack of the 
line and made Dick aware that he now had something stronger 
than a lobster to contend with. Indeed, the boat was pulled so much 
by the stern that she began to back directly toward the ledge. The 
line was as stiff as a ramrod, and Jack, rising to the emergency 


62 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


without further orders, pulled till he regained a part of his head- 
way. 

•• It’s our halibut this time,” said Dick, exultingly. as he braced 
his feet against the stern-cuddy and made ready for a fight with 
his victim. “Pull away there. Jack!” he shouted, with increasing 
excitement. “ the fellow is very big or very ugly, and he is trying to 
get to his home under the edge of the rocks before his mother 
knows he’s out.” 

But the boat was now slowing so steadily, Dick took a turn around 
a cleat with his line, and seating himself on the after-thwart, with 
his free hand, took an oar to help jack hold the boat to her own. 
The movement didn’t work, and now the boat was spinning round 
upon her keel like a top. All at once there was a pause, and the 
line slacked. 

“ There. Jack, we’ve lost him ! He’s gone to the doctor to have 
his mouth mended. If his relatives see him scudding away from 
this place, they’ll avoid it, and we’ll have to try some other 
shoal.” 

But Dick was premature in his conclusions, as he informally con- 
fessed, when he cried out: “Hello! If he isn’t hanging there, 
yet!” The halibut was very much in evidence of the truth of the 
assertion, for he had taxen the bit in his teeth, so to speak, and 
was dragging the boat seaward in spite of the resisting efforts of 
both boys. 

The halibut is capable of sudden movements of great violence, but 
incapable of a prolonged fight for his life. The struggle of this one 
ended in his coming to the surface in a few moments after the be- 
ginning of the sudden run, and now his brilliantly white underside 
flashed in the sun like a sheet of frosted silver. With the exception 
of an occasional spasmodic flurry, while the forty fathoms of line 
were being drawn in, he gave his captors no further trouble. Being 
seven feet in length, it required careful work to get him safely aboard 
the Carolina. 

• “ There,” said Dick, triumphantly, when the halibut was stowed 

amidship, ” you have almost skinned, my fingers to the bone, but 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


63 


there is enough meat on you to pay for it. Why, Jack, he’s good 
for two kegs of pickled fins and at least one hundred pounds of strips 
for the smokehouse, and a week’s supply of baking pieces from his 
backbone after he is stripped. That’s what 1 call a pretty good 
chicken, in spite of our calculating about him before he was hatched, 
and father will be the first to admit it as soon as we get ashore. 
And now for a lunch, and a good swig at that jug of buttermilk ; I’m 
as hungry as a pig.” 

“ But look there. Dick !” jack exclaimed, with visible uneasiness. 

Dick glanced seaward, and what he saw instantly banished all’ 
thought of eating. 





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CRAY Itr^ANKET 

MONO former 
^visitors at Black Point 
was an old man named 
Jeremiah Gray, who wore a 
curious coat made from a 
gray blanket, fashioned after 
the style of the old Cana- 
dian pioneers. Although he 
was as full of Scripture as a 
boy is of pranks, he was as 
far astray from its spirit as 
a drunkard is from a straight 
line. He stayed a week 
'' trying to convince Mr. Mel- 
ville that the world was to 
be burned up in less than 
six months, and he dripped 
and dripped his warnings 
upon the boys from morning to night. They disliked him so much 
that whenever he led the morning prayers they signaled each other 

65 


66 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


through the backs of their chairs with faces that couldn’t have been 
worse ‘if they had swallowed a dose of red peppers and vinegar. The 
man was so full of complaints they leaked through his prayers like 
water from a poor bucket, and he was so used to fault-finding that 
he didn’t spare the Lord himself. When he took himself and his 
blankety coat off over the hill, back of the cottage, Dick and Jack, 
who had kept out of sight to escape his farewell admonitions, chuckled 
with delight, and Dick said : 

“ Good-by, Old Gray Blanket, and may the Lord have mercy on 
the next place where you dump your old fog-bank !” 

This was bad language for decent boys to use toward an old man, 
but there is no denying the greatness of the provocation. Like 
everybody else, Dick and jack hated fog, and after Jeremiah Gray’s 
visit, whenever they saw the fog creeping toward the land, blot- 
. ting out everything bright and pleasant, one or other of them 
would say ; 

" There comes Old Gray Blanket again, and we’ll have to get our 
oil-suits out and make ready for another dripping time.” 

What took Dick’s appetite so quickly away after securing the hali- 
but was the sight of a thick fog-bank scudding in from the ocean 
with a celerity and thickness that would soon make the shore and 
everything else invisible. 

Boys, in excuse for thoughtlessness, often say, “ 1 forgot,” but the 
easy and worn expression is never broad enough to mend the hole 
that comes from forgetfulness. 

“ 1 forgot to put the compass in the cuddy!” exclaimed Dick; 
“but if you’ll bear a hand there, Jack, we can get within hearing of 
the surf on the nearest shore, and then we can thumb our noses at 
Old Gray Blanket, and pick our way back to the cove in spite of 
him. If there was wind enough to help us use our sails, we’d be 
all right.” 

There was reason for uneasiness, and for all they could do. To 
be caught in a fog on the sea without a compass is almost like being 
smitten with a sudden blindness in a howling wilderness. 

The boys, pulling bravely at their oars, made directly for Port Mou- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


67 


ton Head as the nearest land, the home-cove being three miles dis- 
tant. But in five minutes the fog was upon them, shutting out every- 
thing with a pall, and breathing such a drizzle upon them that the 
water dripped from their tarpaulin hats and dropped upon their oar- 
handles with a ceaseless patter. 

With the coming of the foe the wind sprang up. and the little 
masts were stepped and sail spread, and Dick, arguing in his own 
mind that as the fog rolled in from the sea the wind must be blow- 
ing in shore, he steered before it, confident that they would soon 
regain their bearings. 

The wind stiffened into a steady breeze, so that the waves began 
to put on their whitecaps. 

Jack,” said Dick, “ that halibut must be fastened in place, and 
then it will serve for ballast instead of slipping around like a greased 
pig. Tie his tail to the after-thwart and his head to the forward one ; 
that’ll keep him fore and aft ; then cross-line him to the larboard 
and starboard tholpin holes ; that will steady him amidships, and then 
the Carolina will be trimmed like a duck and will keep as dry as the 
inside of a frying pan,” 

The effect of these precautions was so good, and the boat now 
labored so easily, that Dick, more anxious for his brother than for 
himself, said ; “ Now, Jack, is a good time for you to take your 

grub; you must be hungry. When you get through, you may take 
the tiller, and I’ll take a turn at the jug and the bread and butter.” 

But when his turn came, he only nibbled and swallowed for the 
sake of appearances, and quickly resumed control of the Carolina. 
The fog had condensed into a fine rain and the wind was steadily in- 
creasing in force, and Dick was becoming more and more uneasy. 

Get out the oil clothes,” he said, “ there’s no need of our get- 
ting wet. And while you are about it. see if the bailing bucket is in 
the well-hole ; the Carolina is acting splendidly, but in spite of her, 
the spray comes in over the bow occasionally.” 

When these things were attended to, the situation required that 
the mainsail should be taken in and the foresail reefed to but a third 
of its spread. 


68 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


To his dismay, Dick now realized that he was entirely wrong in 
his conjecture about the direction of the wind ; the deep swell of the 
sea convinced him that he had been running directly off shore in- 
stead ot toward it, and that the boat was now off soundings. The 
wind was so strong, that the only alternative left was to keep before 
it. To add to his trouble, the increasing gloom showed that the 
night was settling down. He had one hope to cheer him, however ; 
if the clouds should break, and give him a clear sky, he knew enough 
about the stars to find his way back to land. But this hope dimin- 
ished rapidly, when he reflected that, clear or foul, so long as the 
wind continued in its present quarter, it would be impossible for him 
to shift his course 

He knew that Jack was as quick as himself to take in things, and. 
seeing that he was doing a good deal of thinking, notwithstanding he 
was so quiet, he said : “ Jack, we are in a bad fix. and what is to 

come of it. is more than I can tell ; but I think we shall be able to 
keep on top of the water till we are picked up by some vessel.” 

“Yes, 1 know we’re in a bad fix. Old Gray Blanket has got us 
this time; but we’re in a good boat, and if you think I’m going to 
sniffle, you’re mightily mistaken,” Jack replied, sturdily, snipping all 
his pronouns in his haste to express the result of his own reflections. 
*• You are captain,” he continued, “ and I am your mate, and a mate 
must stick by his captain and his ship the best he knows how. But 
1 am awful hungry, and you must be, too, and the best thing for us 
to do before the night sets in, is to take a bite ; we haven’t had any- 
thing of any account since breakfast.” 

“ Why, Jack! 1 didn’t know that you carried pluck by the barrel ! 
You have taken loads from my shoulders. 1 have been saying to 
myself; ‘ If I can only get Jack safely back, I don’t care what be- 
comes of me,’ and now you show up as the kind of fellow who is going 
to make it safer for both of us. Get out the grub as soon as you can ; 
you can’t be any hungrier than I am.” 

•' But we are on short allowance now, and must be saving of our 
supplies, though if we get too hard up we have the halibut for a 
stand-off,” and Jack brought out the food, and each one tried to see 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


69 


how sparingly he could eat of it, the while thinking of those at home 
and what they were now going through on account of the failure of 
the Carolina to return. 

"Now,” said Dick, when the remainder of the food was carefully 
stowed in the cuddy-hoie again, " you must strip the mainsail from 
the heel of the mast and bring it aft ; we can pull it over our feet 
and up to our waists, and that will keep us quite comfortable in spite 
of the chilly air.” 

When this arrangement was completed, Dick said : " It will have 
to be watch and watch with us, Jack. You cuddle down now and go 
to sleep, and when I can’t stand it any longer. I’ll wake you and take 
a nap myself.” 

It was a weary watch for Dick, however, and was made doubly 
trying because Jack, affected by the uneasy movements of the boat, 
would every once in a while murmur something about home and the 
incidents of the early morning. The vague, melancholy roar of the 
sea, the thick blackness of the night, and the thought of the uncer- 
tainties by which the boat was beset, at times almost overpowered 
him. How long he had watched he had no means of knowing, he 
only knew that he was getting very drowsy, and that Jack was still 
sleeping, when he thought he heard a sound that was different from 
the monotonous swash of the waves around him. Hearing it more 
distinctly, and confident that he was not deceived, yet wishing to have 
Jack’s ears to confirm his own, he said; 

" Jack — Jack, wake up, wake up ! 1 hear something.” 

" It sounds like a steamer.” Jack exclaimed, excitedly, the mo- 
ment he was fully awake. 

Yes ! There she was, looming before them with her high forward 
lights gleaming through the darkness, and her engines throbbing 
loudly above the sound of the sea, and so close that the boys stood 
up in their boat and united their voices in a desperate cry for 
succor. But she thundered by, little dreaming of the despair she 
left behind. 

" Oh, Dick! it’s awful to be left in this way,” Jack cried, in the 
bitterness of his disappointment. 


70 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


•• It might have been worse ; we have had a narrow escape from 
being run over. I’m thankful that she came no nearer. Don’t give 
up, old fellow; wait till daylight comes; then if this confounded fog 
will clear away, we’ll have a chance to sight and signal some vessel 
that will pick us up.” 

But the morning brought no improvement in the weather. The 
fog was thick and the sea rough, and under their little patch of sail 
they were still scudding before a strong wind. Overcome with 
fatigue toward noon, Dick fell asleep, and Jack handled the boat as 
if his brother’s life depended upon his care. The second night was 
much like the first, but on the third morning the wind fell and the 
sea was so calm it seemed as though the little craft floated through 
thick clouds. 

The scanty supply of food was exhausted, and the jug of butter- 
milk, from which they had drawn very sparingly, was getting low. 
But, while the boat drifted idly upon the foggy sea, the boys exam- 
ined her from stem to stern, re-stepped their mainmast, and made 
ready, so far as they could, for any fresh emergency. 

Having finished this work. Jack looked at the halibut, and. as if 
inspired, suddenly exclaimed ; Say. Dick, if we had matches we 
might get our meals from the halibut and lobster.” 

*• My match-safe is full of matches ; much good will they do us 
here.” 

“We’ll see,” said Jack, going forward and pulling from the cuddy 
there four or five short pieces of dry pine board he noticed there the 
morning they started on their trip. As they were short and thin, he 
found no difficulty in splitting them into small pieces. 

“What are you about. Jack? You can’t kindle a fire here.” 

“ Don’t be in too much of a hurry to flop a fellow over ; wait and 
see what he is about before you fire at him,” and Jack began pro- 
ceedings. which, as they developed, excited Dick’s admiration to the 
highest pitch. 

The halibut laid with its gray side up. In the middle of the back. 
Jack slashed a square about fourteen inches in size. and then sinking 
his knife deeply into the flesh, he removed long thin slices of hali- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


71 


but, which he placed neatly upon the thwart beside him. When his 
operation was completed, he had a square cavity, which, at a depth 
of four inches, ended against the backbone. The boat’s painter, or 
cable, consisted of a long small chain ; taking this and washing it in 
the sea. he strung it in four lengths, from thwart to thwart, each 
length being separated from its fellow by the space of an inch 
and a half, and the whole sagging downward directly over the hole 
cut into the halibut. Kindling a small fire in the hole cut in the 
halibut. Jack laid the pieces he had cut out upon the chain over the 
fire, and then broke off the legs and claws of the lobster and laid 
them on the chain also. 

“That beats Columbus’ egg business out of sight!” Dick ex- 
claimed, at the same time clapping his hands with such force that 
they sounded like fire-crackers. 

" You could have done it yourself, if you had only thought of it.” 
Jack replied, with a sickly attempt at fun. “ It is poor cooking, yet 
it is ever so much better than being obliged to eat raw lobster and 
halibut. If we only had salt and pepper, we would make quite a 
feast. After the fire goes out. there’ll be lots of roast meat where 
it’s been burning, and we can cut that out and put it in the basket, 
so that if it comes on to rain when next eating time comes we’ll be 
independent of a cooking stove.” 

“ I am proud of you. Jack, and wouldn’t swap you for a kingdom. 
Now let’s try your cooking.” And Dick took one of the lobster 
legs and a slip of crisply browned halibut, and relished both so 
keenly, he served himself a second time. Jack, the while, doing the 
same with equal satisfaction. Each one of the claws was sufficient 
for a meal in itself, but, as neither was needed for present wants, 
though both were thoroughly cooked, they were laid by for future use, 

“ Those tough shells make first class canned meats of them.” 
Jack observed, “and they’ll keep till we want them. At any rate, 
we’ve two days’ grub provided for, and that will save our wood.” 
But, while the boy was trying to make the best of the situation, his 
heart protested against the idea of being obliged to spend two days 
more in the little craft upon the open sea. 


72 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


There was not a breath of wind during the forenoon, and the fog 
clung to the water more closely and thickly than ever, and the long, 
gentle swell of the waves had such a stupefying effect, both boys fell 
asleep. It was sometime before they awoke, and when they did, the 
rain was pattering in their faces. The return to consciousness was 
accompanied with such a sinking of heart, that Jack proposed that 
they should repeat the Lord’s prayer together, and the words had 
such a quickening effect upon them that the stronger side of their 
nature began to assert itself immediately. 

They unstepped the mainmast again and used the mainsail as 
they had done before to economize their heat by pulling it up about 
their legs and waists. 

“ Say, Dick, do you see those little brooks running down the folds 
of the canvas?” Jack asked, after watching the little streams chase 
one another for some time. 

" Yes,” Dick said quickly, “ and I know what your quick wits are 
running after now. Let’s get about it right away.” 

The bailing bucket was carefully rinsed in the sea and held bottom 
upward till the last drop of salt water had run out of it, after which 
it was placed in the bailing well of the boat, where, by carefully ar- 
ranging the canvas sail, the tiny streams of fresh water all found 
their way into it until they had nearly enough rainwater to fill 
their jug. 

•• It is a little brackish because it has passed over the canvas.” 
Dick said, after tasting it, “ but it is a god-send to us nevertheless, 
and it won’t hurt you. Jack, if you take a big swig at it,” 

The dismally still day gave way to another night that began with 
a rising sea and a driving wind, before which the Carolina sped like 
a frightened spirit. The darkness seemed like infinite space, and 
the hours like eternity. The strain became too great for Jack, and 
he suddenly wailed : " Oh Dick ! do say something, or I shall go 

crazy and jump overboard.” 

Dick was startled out of his desponding silence by the poignancy 
of his brother’s cry, and putting his arm around him, he said: 
"Steady Jack! Think how well we are doing! The Carolina is 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


73 


doing all she can to keep us above water ; you have settled the food 
and water business for us, and neither of us have really suffered yet. 
This kind of weather can’t hold out much longer. If Old Gray 
Blanket will only take himself off and let us out of his embrace, in 
the morning we may catch sight of a sail near enough to signal. 
We must be in the track of sea-going vessels.” 

•• I know I am a baby, Dick, but I couldn’t help it. when I thought 
of father and mother, and the rest of them. You have put me on 
deck again, and there I’ll stay whatever comes. Let me take a 
trick at the tiller ; you must be tired. You know that I can handle 
the Carolina almost as well as you do.” 

"Certainly, jack, steer all you want to; it will take up your 
thoughts. 1 only kept at it myself because 1 didn't want you to get 
tired.” 

The work of steering relieved Jack’s tension far more than Dick 
had hoped for, and presently the two were chatting quite cheerfully 
about their hopes and prospects. 

Suddenly. Dick threw the sail from his feet, and, giving vent to a 
suppressed exclamation, hurried to the forward part of the boat. 

" What is it?” jack asked, his heart almost bursting with mingled 
fear and hope. 





I. 


• ■ 

• t 


rk>t 

' ► t ‘ 





0 

•* 

f ■- 





• ■ , . V % »li 


■ \.!; 4j»' If 1 r-: .1 5 

i* 

f J^. 

■ - 

■ >iV- 

1 


' « . 1 

n, 1 . ,i.» ' « j'i , , 

*• 

m 

1 » 

• ‘ • 't 




* f 


*^V, , ■ 

'SI' '■’■ •• ■ 

•^1 

, . I 

■ ■ 

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V ^ » ' 


»'•» 


» , 


4 !' 

r'* 



i» / 

.,,'v»(.e^i#i,i, ^ 

? i> - ♦s 


j 



I '. ' 


P', - iw/ 


f^' 


■^- 1 


< 


> 

Sfill 




ALMOST UNKNOWN 

LIGHT!— a light- 
house. and dead 
ahead,” Dick shouted. 

“Surely, Dick?” Jack asked, 
tremblingly, thinking of the bit- 
ter disappointment they experi- 
enced when the steamer went 
by them and vanished in the 
night. 

Dick hurried astern again, 
and taking the tiller from Jack, 
said ; “ Yes, surely enough. No 
vessel light hangs so steadily as 
that, nor would any mere house 
light show up so big. It’s all 
right with us now, old fellow ; 
we’ve a fair wind that will take us 
straight toward it. Go forward 


and watch, and see that I keep the Carolina’s bow glued to that light. 


75 


76 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURBS 


Jack now saw the light for himself, and if the boat sheered either 
one way or the other from the requisite course, Dick got his direc- 
tions quickly and sharply from the bow, and answered them, first by 
word, to show that he understood his orders, and then by tiller, to 
prove that they were obeyed. And when his brother’s — “ Steady 
there, as she goes,” came back. Dick’s sensitive hand counter 
checked every wave that tended to make the boat yaw either one 
way or the other. 

They were out of the fog now. though heavy clouds covered the 
upper sky. In half an hour they were in sight of land, and shortly 
after they heard the surf beating upon a sandy beach as plainly as 
they ever heard the surf beat upon Kempton’s beach at Black Point. 
When they came in sight of the shore-line they skirted the coast in 
the hope of finding a break or inlet that would admit of a safe en- 
trance. Meanwhile, the light disappeared, hidden by the low hills, 
which proved to Dick that there was another sliore-line opposite to 
that along which they were making their way, a fact which puzzled 
him not a little. 

•• That’s the longest beach I ever saw or heard of.” Jack called 
from the lookout. “ I’ll come and take the tiller and let you come 
here and take a look ahead.” 

When Dick had made his observations, he returned to the tiller, 
saying, with some misgivings : “ Unstep the masts. Jack, and make 

everything snug and tight, while I hold the boat with the oars. We 
can’t afford to run this way any longer, but must head through that 
surf and take our chances ; at the worst we can only get a sous- 
ing. We have tried this surf business again and again in fun, and 
never met with an accident ; now we will try it in earnest. Are you 
ready ?” 

Yes, Jack was already on his thwart, ready to keep time with 
Dick’s stroke, and the Carolina started boldly toward the beach. 

The boys had long before learned a very curious fact about the mo- 
tion of the waves, and their knowledge' now stood them in good stead. 
In making the shore, the waves go by groups of seven ; number one 
is the smallest In size, and the seventh wave is the highest, after 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


77 


which comes number one again, and so on. in endless repetition of 
the same series. The seventh wave, of course, goes the farthest up 
any beach that may be in the way. 

" Now, look out for the Old Seventh,” Dick said, repeating the 
knowledge that both were familiar with, in order to secure perfect 
concert of action. •' And don’t let any seventh take us by the keel 
unless she has her curls out,” alluding to the moment when the 
wave begins to break and shows the curve, which is one of the most 
beautiful things in the whole world of nature. “ I don’t think we 
shall be in any danger of being pitch-poled end for end in this craft ; 
she’s never turned a somersault under us yet in all our foolings at 
Black Point. But if she should, look out for her gunwales when you 
leap into the water, and keep your head to land, and when you think 
you are about to be flung upon the shore, spread yourself like a frog, 
and you will come down upon the sand as easy as a bird striking its 
roost.” 

They hung to their oars a mom.ent, steadying their spirits and 
knotting their muscles for the crisis. 

“ Ready, Jack, there she comes!” 

The seventh’s fore-curl caught the Carolina just under the bow. 
No need of oars now, to drive ahead ! The boat sped like an arrow 
toward the beach. 

"Jump!” shouted Dick, whose anxiety had concentrated itself 
upon his brother. 

Both landed at the same instant, in three feet of water, and, not- 
withstanding the strength of the undertow, safely gained the dry 
beach, while the Carolina went out with the reflux, but only to be 
caught again with the surf and flung by the next seventh up the 
beach with such force that she lay a hopeless mas of kindling wood. 

“ Good-by, you old darling!” sighed Jack, viewing the crushed 
gunwales, " but you’ve saved our lives, anyway,” 

“ Yes, she has,” Dick responded, feelingly, " under God she has. 
indeed !” 

Now, that the tension of the excitement was over, Jack trembled 


78 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


as if he had the palsy. “ I’m cold as ice,” he complained, “ can't 
you find some driftwood and kindle a fire ?” 

“Steady, Jack! You musn’t wilt, now that you’ve won. I’ll have 
a fire before long. The stuff of the Carolina is wet on the outside, 
but I can soon whittle down to the dry of some of the pieces, and 
get a flame that will make you as warm as toast.” 

“ No, no I Not a stick of the boat I” jack protested, vehemently, 
though his teeth were knocking together like castanets. “ How can 
you think of it? Let her bleach on the sands, if she must, but we 
won’t destroy a splinter of her. There must be stuff enough on the 
upper beach for a fire ; there was always enough of it on the beaches 
at home. ’ 

They did not search long before they came to a great heap of 
wreckage, tangled around a mast, a yard-arm and the splintered 
fragments of a ship’s cabin. With little trouble, they discovered 
plenty of dry wood under the upper layer of planking and boards, 
and soon had a generous fire, which quickly restored Jack’s warmth 
and spirits. 

“ Now, for a nap,” said Dick, “ there’s heavy enough stuff in that 
tire to make it last two hours, at the least.” 

Lying upon the sand, folded in each other’s embrace, and effect- 
ually protected from the sand by their oil-clothes, they fell asleep 

When they awoke, the sun was shining, and thousands of gulls 
were whirling and shrieking around them in a vast circle, drawn, 
doubtless, by the scent of the halibut which was thrown high upon 
the beach, yet made angry and uneasy by the two prostrate human 
forms and the still smoking embers of the fire. 

“Well, how are we?” were Dick’s first words, as he peered over 
into Jack’s eyes, and found them looking at the gulls in a dazed sort 
of way, he not being fully awake yet. 

“Tip-top,” said Jack, heartily, again coming to a full sense of 
his surroundings, and springing to his feet with his wonted nim- 
bleness. 

“ You had such a fit of the ague last night, I was sure you’d have 
a fever this morning.” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


79 


•• Oh, there was no ague about it ; I was just plum frightened, 
that was all. When everything was going on against us, my dander 
kept up, but as soon as the danger was over. 1 turned coward all 
in a heap.” 

The sun was so warm, both boys threw off the yellow oil-clothes, 
which had kept them so nice and dry, and began to shake the 
wrinkles out of their other garments and to make themselves straight 
generally. Jack, who never ventured out without a comb in his 
pocket, and who had often been laughed at by Dick for being so 
anxious about his long locks, produced that useful article and trimmed 
his hair with his usual care. 

“ It has made such an improvement in your appearance, old 
fellow. I’d like to apply it to my own pumpkin, and if you’ll pass it 
over this way. I’ll never make fun of your comb-carrying again.” 
Dick was standing some distance away, and Jack threw the comb to 
him, and as it was going high, it required an upward leap to reach it 
to prevent it from going into the sand beyond. The movements of 
the boys created a great excitement among the gulls, and when the 
comb was thrown, it was evidently taken as the gage of battle, for 
they whisked at them with their wings and screamed at them with a 
ferocity that was positively startling ; nor were they frightened away 
until Dick and Jack seized the oil-clothes and waved them in the air 
by way of defense. 

•• They are hungry for that halibut,” said Dick. “ but I guess we 
shall have to have another dig at it before we resign it to them.” 

“Mercy, no!” exclaimed Jack. “I’m hungry, but not hungry 
enough to touch a fish that's been out of water and without salt as 
long as that halibut has. If our canned lobster ( referring to the 
roasted lobster claws) was on hand we’d talk about breakfasting here, 
for the shells would keep them in good shape.” 

“ Don’t be so sure, old boy. about not touching that halibut 
again. It has been so chilly and cloudy since we made his 
acquaintance, that you may depend upon it. the meat has lost none 
of its sweetness. At any rate, having so many live coals handy, I’rn 


80 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


going to try for a fresh steak and a fresh bite before we begin to 
travel inland.” 

Dick proved to be right, for on removing the skin from the back 
and cutting near to the backbone, the meat was found to be per- 
fectly fresh. When the steaks were cooked over the coals, Jack ate 
of them without squeamishness, so that the two were not as hollow 
as they were when they awoke. 

Seeing that the sails, masts and oars and other equipments of the 
Carolina were scattered about on the beach, the boys picked them 
up and carefully deposited them on the upper beach in a pile 
together, impelled more by sentiment than they were by any con- 
viction of any possible use to which the things could be put in the 
future. 

Among the other cast-ups, they found the remains of the giant 
lobster, which, out of mere sport, jack, who had recovered all his 
natural spirits, fetched and placed by the side of the halibut. 

There,” he said, “ as soon as we are gone from here, the gulls 
will get in their work, and Old Hal will have nothing but his skeleton 
left to keep him company, but as Old Lob carries his skeleton out- 
side, they will not find him so easy to manage, unless their bills are 
strong enough to act as a can-opener.” 

“ It’s time we began to find out where we are,” said Dick. 1 
have almost cracked my head guessing. It can’t be possible that 
we have crossed the Bay of Fundy and landed in the United States ; 
and yet that’s about the only thing I can make of it.” 

Taking their oil-suits on their arms, they started to explore, but 
they had no sooner gone Inland a short distance than they were 
bewildered by the innumerable conical sand-dunes that beset them 
on every side. 

“I’d as soon get lost in the woods as to get lost among these 
confounded sugar-loaves !” Jack exclaimed. “ Let’s climb one of 
them ; that lighthouse must be somewhere around here, and if we 
can get a sight of it, it will be a sort of a guide to us, even in the 
daylight.” 

They selected one of the highest dunes, or sand-hills, they could 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


81 


find, and with some difficulty made their way through the yielding 
sand up to the top. which had an elevation of about fifty feet from 
the level below. 

•• United States !” Jack cried ; •• if this is the United States. I say 
let’s us get out of it as soon as possible. It’s worse than Black 
Point. Sand. sand, everywhere, and trees nowhere. Why. it’s an 
island. Dick ! There’s no United States about this place ! We 
left the sea behind us : there’s the sea down at that ugly flat point 
we can see; and the sea on the other side not more than a mile 
away ; and sea. sea as far as we can sight up the coast on each side. 
And one. two. three, four, five — five wrecks in sight from where v'e 
stand : and black specks further up that must be wrecks also. Well, 
this is the funniest country I ever saw — hummocked all over with 
sand-hills as thick as potato hills, narrow as the edge of a clam, and 
stretching out like a sailor’s yarn.” Jack went on until forced to 
stop to get his breath. 

•• Well, there is the lighthouse, anyway, and several other houses 
near it,” Dick began. '• And they are not so very far away, either. 
If we want to keep from splitting our heads open with mere guess- 
work. we’d better hurry over there and find out something that we 
can settle down to.” 

When they approached the little cluster of red buildings, which 
seemed to have been accidentally dropped upon the sands, they saw 
that only one of them was arranged for occupation, and around that 
one no sign of life appeared, save a thin spiral of smoke ascending 
from one of the two chimneys. But on turning the bow of an over- 
turned boat, that was certainly on its last legs, it was so shattered 
and weather-worn, an immense St, Bernard dog, with white breast, 
toes and tip of tail, contrasting with a body of greyish brown, came 
from under the boat and sprang toward them. The boys understood 
dogs well enough to know that his intentions were pacific. In addition 
to the wagging of his great bushy tail, and barking with a voice big 
enough for an elephant, he rolled on the sand at their feet, licked 
their hands, placed his great paws on their shoulders, and otherwise 
appeared as if he were in imminent danger of getting up a quarrel 


82 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


with himself for not having studied the English language sufficiently 
to enable him to set his welcome to words. 

Aroused by his barking, two men came out of the house, and one 
of them immediately shouted: “ Down, Bingo! down, you lubber!” 

Bingo went down like a log ; yet, though his huge body was so 
still, his big intelligent eyes continued to show the kind of stuff he 
was made of. 

The men, who were roughly clad, shaggily bearded, and deeply 
bronzed, came up to the boys and stared at them as though they had 
just descended from the skies. The one who ordered the dog down, 
shaking with excitement, and stumbling in his speech, asked : 

“ Who the deuce be you ? where the blazes did yer come frum ? 
’nd how ’n the divil d’ye git here ?” 

During this volley his companion, a giant of a fellow for height and 
expanse of chest and stomach, stood looking on with amazed blue 
eyes, and a mouth so widely opened that the whole interior could 
have been photographed if there had been a snap-shot kodak turned 
on him. 

The boys were astonished to find themselves objects of wonder, 
but Dick promptly answered : *• We are the Melville boys from 

Black Point, and we came ashore last night on the beach over 
yonder in a small whaleboat in which we were blown to sea during a 
thick fog.” 

“ Look here, youngster, you don’t mean to spin that yarn to us for 
a fact, do you ?” 

“ What else should 1 spin it for.” 

" But it’s unpossible, lads — downright unpossible ! No youngsters 
under the sun could get through the surf over there alive onless they 
was born’d fish or had grow’dup in jist such diggin’s as these. Beg- 
gin’ your pardon — if you please — 1 say it’s monstrously unpossible.” 
Yet the man was actually perspiring between the incredibility of the 
circumstance and the evidence of his eyes. 

“ Dot must pe some faxs,” the giant began ; " dem poys vas here 
vor a fax. und if ve don’t fetch it she hafe fetched hisseluf, 
don’t it ?” 




ON SABLE ISLAND 


85 


The broken language, the confusion of genders and the comical 
attempt to harmonize apparent contradictions, together with the per- 
plexed face of the speaker, threw Dick and Jack into convulsions of 
mirth in spite of their efforts to restrain themselves. This, instead 
of displeasing the giant, seemed to draw him to them, for, as if 
recollecting his manners, he went up to the boys, and shaking hands 
with them, said : “If you vas trop vrom dose skies vou pe vel- 
come.” 

” You’re here for a fact,” said the first speaker, now smiling at 
his own incredulity, “ but do you know where you are ?” 

“ No; that’s what we came over here to find out,” said Dick. 
Our people at home will be worrying themselves almost to death 
over our absence, and we want to get back to them in the shortest 
possible time.” 

" Bless my soul, lads ! you are on Sable Island, more than a hun- 
dred and fifty miles from land.” 

“Sable Island!” Dick repeated. “I don’t know much about 
Sable Island, but 1 thank God it was here to pick us up I” 

“You’re about the fust one what ever thanked anybody for this 
place.” the man replied, with some bitterness. “ Most people won- 
der what in time the place was put here for. It’s the awfullest 
deathtrap for sailors that was ever set anywhere in creation. That’s 
why I couldn’t make out how you ever got ashore alive.” 

“ We have been in the surf before,” said Jack, “ Black Point 
surf, and in it for fun.” 

“ Fun !” the man almost shouted, “ land alive ! what kind of chaps 
be ye ?” 

“ Yes, for fun,” Dick joined in, thoughtfully, “ and but for the 
valuable hints we got from our fun, we couldn’t have come ashore as 
we did last night, for I’ll confess that your surf is rather ugly, I see 
now, that even one’s fun may be the means of giving a fellow some 
useful knowledge and practice.” 

But let us introduce the men. The smaller man’s name was 
Brown, and he was the keeper of the light. The giant was, as has 


86 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


been seen, a German. His name was written Schomphs, but to save 
the labor of pronouncing it, his companions called him Jumps. 

Besides these two, there was a life-saving crew of fourteen men, 
who, at the time, were out on their usual patrol duty, jumps was 
the cook of the whole establishment. 

Jumps respected the English language enough to try to capture it 
for his use, but only to find that it was a perfect Gibraltar of rock 
and guns. A Frenchman, in the crew, had tried to correct his mis- 
use of genders, and what, with his own tendency to an excessive use 
of the masculine gender, and the Frenchman’s tendency to an excess 
of the feminine gender, he was constantly getMng between the devil 
and the deep sea. The men of the life station had become so ac- 
customed to his double-barrelled use of the genders that they didn’t 
even laugh at his mistakes, and Jumps became convinced that there 
was no need of worrying about his blunders. 

While Brown and the boys were talking together, it suddenly oc- 
curred to the giant that the lads needed something to eat, and he 
accordingly asked, with scant ceremony, and breaking in upon the 
conversation: “Mein poys, vas she hafe no grub in dem boat? 
Und how long vash you ven you don’t eat noddins?” 

Dick explained that they had not suffered much for want of food, 
and gave a detailed account of Jack’s cooking arrangements, which 
so excited the giant, he spluttered out : “ Dot Jack vas hafe some 

prains mit his het. Ach ! how vas he dinks uv a stove mit der holi- 
but’s pack? Ven he vas here, he vill make plum poodin’ mit sand 
und clams. Put she vas hongry now, you pet !” 

Brown began to reproach himself for not thinking of food before, 
and, by way of excuse, said ; “ You laughed so easy, and looked so 

fresh and merry, I fcrgot all about offering grub. The fact is, we 
are so shut out of the world, and see so few people, that our think- 
ing traps have got so rusty, we can hardly put two and two 
together, ’cepting when a ship comes ashore, and we have to stir 
ourselves to save lives. Why, confound my liver, we haven’t in- 
vited you into the station yet 1 Jumps, you great lubber, where’s 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


87 


your wits, that you don't kick me ana yourself, too, for bein’ so in- 
fernally hoggish ? 

“Ach! Mein poys, come mit me und vill yourselluf up to der top 
uve dem hats,” and the surprised giant, taking Dick and Jack by the 
hand, almost dragged them to the station. 

The building was as homely as a pile of timber, but when the boys 
got inside, they saw that it was put up for strength and not for 
beauty. The room, in which they were, was large and comfortable. 
The moment they were seated. Brown and the giant bestirred them- 
selves in a m.anner that showed they were not as slow as they repre- 
sented themselves to be. 

The great table, to one end of which the boys v/ere invited, was 
soon garnished with a supply of good food which did credit to the 
giant’s cookery. His coffee, though boiled in a hurry, and served 
without milk, was as highly appreciated by them as nectar is fabled 
to have been relished by the gods. 

Now, that they had eaten, their thoughts turned homeward again, 
and they began to make inquiries about the means of communicat- 
ing with the mainland, not dreaming but they could soon return and 
relieve the anxieties which they knew must be distracting those at 
home. Their spirits fell, when informed that their stay must, in the 
nature of the case, be a prolonged one. Few visited the island vol- 
untarily, and they were the adventurous fishermen, who came in 
August. The government tender had just made her last visit for 
the season. She might possibly visit the island again in the spring, 
but it was more than probable that she would not succeed in touch- 
ing the place before the following July or August. Sable Island was 
described to the boys as the center of a perfect network of sand- 
spits and shoals ; a place to be avoided, rather than courted ; a vast 
danger station, without a single sheltering inlet ; an island, twenty- 
five miles in length, surrounded by a surf-line that warned all comers 
to keep their distance. So uncertain were the government visits, 
that a whole year had been known to pass before boats could find a 
chance to land. 

This was depressing news to the boys, but when they were told of 


88 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


the shipwrecks and loss of life so frequent in the vicinity, they were 
thankful they had come on shore with their lives, and made up their 
minds to wait in patience for the day of deliverance. 

Seeing that the boys were showing sings of fatigue. Jumps took 
them up into the long loft of the station, where the cots were, and 
insisted that they should undress and go to bed. 

■* You vas needs sleep pefore der captin und dose men vas here,” 
he said, “ ven she comes, dey von’t perlieve it yoost like Meester 
Frown, und den she vill hafe to tell dem so vonce more.” 

And while his big voice and broken-worded kindness was droning 
in their ears, they fell into a deep sleep. 





DIAMONDS IN THE ROUGH 

HEN Jack opened his eyes 
he was so drowsy he was 
strongly disposed to shut them 
again, but several things ar- 
rested his attention, so that he 
became widely awake. 1 1 was 
neither daylight nor dark, and 
rising to his elbows he saw 
that nearly all the beds were 
occupied by men apparently 
soundly asleep. This struck 
him as strange, but he ex- 
plained it to himself by saying 
the men were in the habit of 
going to bed at sundown. The 
profile of a nose on the bed 
next to him was thrown in 
such bold relief against the 
lights of the window in the far 
end of the room that Jack 
recognized it as belonging to the giant. As with his returning con- 

89 


90 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


sciousness he felt a renewed sense of hunger, what was more natural 
than that the giant’s near presence should suggest the possibility of 
getting something to eat. 

•• Dick,” he said, in a loud whisper to his brother. 

I’m not asleep,” Dick responded, with a quickness that justified 
the suspicion that he had been awake a long time , ‘ I’m trying to 
miake out where we are and what is the time of day.” 

Why. don’t you see it’s almost night !” exclaimed Jack, in a dis- 
consolate whisper. " Plague take it ! we’ve lost both our dinner and 
supper by snoozing here like mud-turtles on a log. Can’t you see 
that everybody has gone to bed. I’m starving again. Jumps is in 
the bed next to us. Let’s ask him to get up and give us a bite of 
something- he’s so good-natured, you know.” 

■■ Who vas dot says Jumps und dose wittles,” said the giant, an- 
swering for himself, and lifting himself to a sitting posture, he having 
been aroused by the whispering in time to hear Jack’s closing words 
about himself. 

•• It’s Jack,” Dick replied. “ He’s hungry again, and so am I, if 
you don’t mind my saying so.” 

Hongry! Veil, dot pe no vonder, ven she sleeps mit der whole 
tay und have no vake till anudder tay. It’s morning, right ervay, 
und 1 gets me up, und she schall come town to prekfast ven her 
smells dose vittles und dot coffee creepin’ up dem stairs.” 

“ Morning, Jumps ? Have we slept all day and through the whole 
night, besides?” Dick asked, in astonishment. 

“ Yas, pooty much dot vay, und she veels werry goot, don’t he ?” 

“ Yes, Jumps, and much obliged to you,” said Jack, taking the 
words out of Dick’s mouth and adding: “ But I am as emoty as a 
pumpkin that’s lost its insides in a Halloween spree.” 

■•Vas dot so?” And the giant began making his toilet with so 
much haste and racket, all the rest of the men arose and followed 
his example. Dick and Jack were scarcely in their own garments, 
when they found themselves surrounded by the men, who poured 
upon them question after question concerning their adventures and 
landing. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


91 


They were a rough looking body of men, with direct, blunt man- 
ners and ways of talking, and had voices that sounded like the burr 
of wind blowing through the shrouds of a vessel. The desolateness 
of their surroundings made them more than ordinarily friendly with 
one another, while the strictness of the discipline to which they were 
subjected, and the gravity of the dangers to which they were fre- 
quently exposed, tended to foster a manliness that inspired both re- 
spect and confidence. 

The captain’s name was Moline, who, while he shared everything 
in common with the men, and was upon familiar terms with them 
also, never relaxed the authority that kept them in constant training 
for the most sudden emergencies. 

At the first lull in the'patter of questions. Captain Moline intro- 
duced himself to the boys, and congratulated them on their safe land- 
ing, He said: “While you were asleep yesterday afternoon, my 
mate and 1 wondered so much about you that we went over to the 
south beach to see where you landed, and though the surf was not 
as high as it was yesterday morning, it was still a surf we shouldn’t 
want to meddle with unless necessity compelled us to do it. Your 
boat was badly wrecked, but there is enough of her left to show she 
was built for stiff work. When Brown and Jumps told us of your 
halibut fireplace, we could scarcely believe them, but there was also 
enough of the halibut left to prove that a fire had actually been built 
upon its back, and I brought home one of the lobster claws, which 
we picked up on the beach, to prove to the men that it had been 
roasted as well as if it had been cooked on land. The body of the 
lobster measures twenty-seven inches from nose to tail. I have 
heard of the big Black Point lobsters, but never supposed they were 
as large as fair-sized babies. My mate brought the lobster home in 
front of him on the pony, and has nailed it up on the boathouse and 
labelled it ‘ Bluenose Mermaid.’ 

“ Yes,” the mate began, “ if I hadn’t brought it in and put it where 
it could be measured by the men for themselves, our story would 
have been put down as a salt-water yarn. Without its claws and 


92 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 

■r»- 

legs, it makes a very good mermaid, and is about as near as we shall 
ever get to that sort of maid.” 

Dick abruptly changed the conversation by asking : “How did 
you men get by us last night and go to bed without waking us ?” 

“ Oh, that was easy enough, laughed the captain. “ Brown and 
Jumps told us of your arrival, and what you had passed through, and 
we went into the loft in our stocking feet, took a peep at you as we 
passed by and got into bed without saying a word, for we knew you 
needed sleep.” 

“ You are gentlemen !” Dick exclaimed, gratefully. 

“Gentlemen!” repeated the youngest man in the crew, with a 
sarcastic laugh. “We look like gentlemen, don’t we, in these scare- 
crow rigs of ours. It takes clothes to make a gentleman.” The 
speaker looked like one who had been accustomed to different sur- 
roundings. and spoke with a bitterness that indicated that he was not 
on the best of terms with his fellow lifemen. 

“ My own rig isn’t anything to boast of.” Dick replied. “ but I 
have always been taught that kindness to others is the first and 
chief sign of a gentleman. You certainly were very kind to us in 
trying to get to bed without disturbing us ; that showed that you are 
gentlemen.” 

" And another sign of a gentleman is the appreciation of the 
kindness of others,” remarked Captain Moline. “ and you have not 
only understood our feeling toward you, but you have praised it as 
well, and that shows that you are a gentleman.” 

Boggs, the man who had sneered so viciously, said nothing more, 
yet looked so sullen, it was evident that, being convinced against his 
will, he was of the same opinion still. 

Jumps’ big voice suddenly rolled up the stairs, saying: “ Vas you 
come der grub, ven I vas vatin’ vor you und dem poys vot is so 
hongry ?” 

Captain Moline motioned the boys to precede him down the stair- 
way, and then followed with his men. 

The giant’s table was his kingdom, and, although it was entirely 
destitute of napery, it was as clean and white as fresh linen, the pine 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


93 


plank of which it was made being scrupulously scoured with sand 
every day. His dishes and his other tableware were his subjects, 
which he assigned to their places with all the precision of a military 
martinet. He put his conscience into every bit of food he cooked, 
and served it up with the promptness and impartiality that sprung 
from perpetual fidelity to his humblest duties. In all this, he had 
the hearty approval of the captain, who maintained that neglect in 
the smaller things of life will, in the end. lead to the confusion of 
those greater things upon which life itself depends. 

Dick and Jack were reminded of their mother’s table, and won- 
dered how a great strapping man like Jumps had acquired so much 
womanly wisdom and skill. But what most excited their curiosity, 
was the profusion of fine silver and chinaware displayed upon the 
table, and the abundance of handsome pieces of furniture scattered 
about the large dining and sitting room. 

Their surprise was so plainly visible, from the way in which they 
allowed their eyes to wander around, that Captain Moline said: 
" All this fine stuff that you see here came from wrecks— from 
cabins abandoned to their fate by their original masters, and we use 
it because there is nobody else to use it. You see we have a full 
supply of silver spoons even, and of these Jumps is especially proud.” 

“ Yas, dot vas so,” Jumps smilingly assented. •* Dem spoons vas 
vashed und shined so easy, I don’t want no pewter; und it vas dot 
same vay mit some beoples — pewter beoples don’t keeps so vite und 
shiny as dem vot vas silver— und she scours und scours dem to 
make dem shine, und pooty soon dot pewter spoon don’t hafe noddin 
/eft to shine.” 

Boggs had but recently been reprimanded in the mess for shirking 
duty, and, like all persons who will neither correct their faults nor 
take the blame that belongs to their neglect, he was sensitively sus- 
picious of both the words and the deeds of those who did the best 
they could. He thought that the giant was aiming something at 
him, and he angrily said: “jumps, you’re nothing but pewter 
smeared with quicksilver.” 

“ Vas dot so ? Veil, I vas so pig. I don’t vears out so qvick as you, 


94 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


don’t she?” Jumps never hunted for nettles, but when it was 
necessary to take hold of them, he took a strong hold and pulled 
them up by the roots, and in this instance turned the laugh so 
strongly against Boggs, that the man ate the rest of his breakfast in 
sullen silence. 

After breakfast, the captain invited the boys out to see his stud of 
horses. Calling Bingo to him, he said: “Fetch them along. 
Bingo,” and the great Bernarder trotted off with as much dignity as 
if he had received a royal commission, and in a few moments re- 
turned from the near sand-hills driving before him ten of the funni- 
est beasts Dick and Jack had ever seen. 

This was the captain’s stud of horses— trained specimens of the 
celebrated Sable Island ponies. Their heads were almost as big as 
their haunches, while their bodies were so short it seemed as if they 
had only been put in between the heads and haunches for the sake 
of keeping them together. The manes and tails were so long they 
could serve equally well for fly-nets in summer or horse-blankets in 
winter. Some of the ponies were jet black, and others a dingy 
brown ; some were black and white, and others a mixture of many 
colors, like Joseph’s coat. All had large, fiery eyes of changing hues 
and many expressions. In size the ponies were but little larger than 
Bingo himself. Upon the whole, they suggested impishness as a 
good word to sum them up. 

Dick and Jack were as much amused as they were astonished at 
their appearance, and Jack said to Dick, aside : “ Why just think 

of one of those little brutes standing by the side of our Black Prince ! 
A switch of Prince’s tail would almost knock one of them over. 
What on earth can they be good for?” 

“ If we wait long enough we shall probably find out.” replied Dick, 
cautiously. “ Quality doesn’t always depend upon size, and what 
those little chaps lack in size they may make up in quality. Depend 
upon it they are not here for nothing.” 

Presently the ponies, not seeing or knowing enough of boys to be 
afraid of them, yet recognizing them as strangers, crowded up to 
Dick and Jack, and after all had sniffed the air about them, several 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


95 


snorted at them with a well defined contempt, while one or two nosed 
them inquisitively, and seeming to receive a favorable impression, 
just as distinctly made offers of friendship by resting their big heads 
against the boys’ sides. 

Meanwhile, the men were preparing to mount, and after a little 
each pony had a rider whose legs, whether they were long or short, 
almost reached the ground. When the captain had mounted on a 
little black stallion, he said : •• Well boys, what do you think of our 

stud of horses ?” 

“ Why, they seem to be as tame as kittens, but I can’t understand 
how they are able to hold you fellows on their backs,” Jack replied, 
laughing at the ridiculous figure cut by both men and ponies. 

“ They stand up under you as if they were made of cast iron,” 
Dick said, more discerningly and cautiously. 

“ Yes, they are very tough, and they are as cute as they are tough 
We do most all of our patrol work with them, and often go more than 
fifty miles a day on their backs. And when we get caught among 
the dunes in a fog or a blinding snowstorm, we trust to their senses 
more than we do to our own. There are more than five hundred 'f 
them upon the island ; but, of course, only a few of them are trained 
like these. When we need fresh ones we go on a hunt for them, 
and they generally give us a picnic before we get them broken in. 
After they are once broken, however, they are as faithful as dogs. 
Would you like to have a pair broken in for your own use ? you are 
to be here some time, you know. If you think that you could man- 
age them, we’ll get them for you.” 

“ My cracky!” Jack exclaimed, with delight. 

•• By the way yours are acting now I shouldn’t think it would be 
very hard to manage them,” Dick said; “ and if we should happen 
to fall from their backs, the distance to the sand is so short, and the 
sand itself is such a cushion, there would be small danger of our get- 
ting hurt, I guess.” 

But you’ll find that these ponies are like guns that must be 
safely pointed before they are allowed to go off,” Captain Moline 
said, somewhat grimly. “ However, we’ll get a pair for you, 


96 


DiCK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


and you can form your opinions of them after you have made their 
acquaintance.” 

Then turning to his men, he continued ; “ The day is so fine 

there’ll be no need of patrolling the beach this afternoon, and 
we’ll take a half-day off and go on a horse-hunt and see what we can 
get for the lads. ” 

The men gave a cheer, and by some signal not observed by the 
boys, started their ponies, which galloped away with a speed that soon 
carried the riders out of sight. 

The captain remained behind to tell the boys about the general 
hunts and round-ups they had when the government tender succeeded 
in reaching the island, and about their shipping from ten to twenty 
for the market at Halifax, whence they were widely distributed to 
different parts of the world as pets and curiosities. He also told 
them that the original breed was put upon the island over a hundred 
years before for the purpose of furnishing meat for those who were 
shipwrecked, and that the ponies lived upon the tough beach grass, 
which abounded among the valleys and slopes of the dunes. 

But what most delighted the boys, was an invitation to join in the 
hunt in the afternoon. “ Dick can have Molly, the pony I am on,” 
said the captain, “ and I’ll take a frisky colt I am breaking in, while 
Jack can have Luther, the one that belongs to Jumps.” 

“My goodness, captain!” Dick exclaimed, “ you don’t mean to 
say that the giant rides one of those little things! It would seem 
far more natural for a pony to sit astride his shoulders than for him 
to get astride a pony.” 

“ Yes,” laughed the captain, “ Jumps can ride with the best of us. 
and is the best horse-tamer on the island. Luther is a strong stal- 
lion. and he and his master are on the best of terms.” 

The ponies of Sable Island do not all herd together, but go in 
groups of fifteen or twenty, under the leadership of some stallion 
who has proved himself able to head the herd by subduing some 
other rival for that honor, and he keeps his place until disabled, or 
displaced by some stronger competitor. It is with these ponies as it 
is with politicians. 


ON SABLt ISLAND 


97 


When Dick and Jack mounted for the hunt. Molly and Luther 
tested their mettle at the outset by cutting antics that landed the 
boys in the sand once or twice without ceremony. 

Yo, ho, ho!” the giant laughed, while his great abdomen heaved 
like the billows of a small earthquake. •• Yo, ho, ho ! You vas 
hafe to put some sand mit dos ponies’ packs, und she don’t have to 
slip off no more. Hug mit dose legs und holt mit her hands, und 
den she vas sticks like shoemaker’s vax, vile she don’t strikes, und 
speaks like she vas the mudder to dem vellers.” 

The boys took the giant’s hints, though, when the cavalcade 
started off on a tearing gallop among the dunes, they discov- 
ered that they stood in need of some tactics that were not 
mentioned by Jumps. If the ponies saw a bunch of beach 
grass that appeared to be more than ordinarily inviting, they 
stopped in the very midst of their headway, and landed the 
boys overhead upon the sand with as little concern as if they 
were shaking a fly from their tough hides. But as soon as the boys 
began to be alert to this little trick, the ponies seemed to under- 
stand that there was an end to fooling, and that henceforth they 
were to attend to business. 

When the lifemen seek for singles or pairs, they attack the first 
herd they sight, and cut out or separate such as take their fancy 
most. The hunters had not been out more than half an hour, when 
they came upon a herd of seventeen ponies. When the leader of 
the herd discovered the hunters, he faced them for an instant, then, 
challenging them with a defiant snort, started off, followed by a fly- 
ing tangle of heads, manes and tails, that wound in and out among 
the dunes in such a confusing way, it was difficult to keep them in 
sight. Presently, five of them were separated from the herd, and 
the captain said to his men ; 

“ Cut out the two black mares ; they are the ones we want.” 

Now, came the most exciting part of the operation, for the two. 
on being separated from their companions, made attempts to get 
back to the herd, and galloped about with a speed that was hardly to 
be expected of such ungainly looking creatures. 


98 


DICK AND JACK S ADVENTURES 


Molly and Luther, entering into the fun of the chase, pursued the 
flying ponies on their own account, and were as indifferent to their 
riders as if they were a thousand miles away ; but as Dick and Jack 
were now thoroughly aroused to the sport, and able to keep securely 
in their seats, the speed of the ponies but increased the pleasure of 
their riders. 

Finally, the lifemen got into a circle around the two fugitives, and 
the race was at an end. But when it came to haltering and nozzling 
the captives, the ponies bit and kicked with such ferocity that Dick 
and Jack were content with that part of the enchantment that is lent 
by a prudent distance of view. 

When the ponies were taken to the station, they were securely 
fastened in the boathouse, and the men gathered and discussed the 
good points of the captives. The ponies were black young mares, 
full grown, perfectly sound and possessed of manes and tails that 
filled the boys with delight. One of them had a white fore-foot, 
which the captain said should be Jack’s sign of ownership. 

And I’ll call her Topsy,” said Jack. 

“ Then mine shall be Turvy, for it has been a topsy-turvy of a race 
to get them,” Dick promptly responded. 

Capital!” exclaimed the captain, approvingly. “ And Jumps will 
give you ail the aid and instruction you may need to break and tame 
them. You must look out for their teeth and heels, however, for 
these wild ponies are active at both ends.” 

Jumps was possessed of such a stock of kindness and pati- 
ence, and was so well acquainted with pony nature, and the boys 
watched his tactics so closely, and imitated them so faithfully, 
that the captives became almost as fond of the three as 
Bingo was. 

Jumps’ constant advice was : " You vas not hurt der veelinks mit 
dose ponies, und den dey don’t hurt yours, vor she vas knows vat is 
vat as veil as us do.” 

But the first time the boys attempted to mount Topsy and Turvy, 
they had serious doubts as to the entire correctness of Jumps’ 
lessons. It seemed, as it often does in life, as if it were an 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


99 


impossible thing to yoke precept and practice into a working team. 

When Jack mounted Topsy she pitched him over her head 
into the sand, and while he pluckily held on to the halter, she 
stood over him with her forefeet flying in the air like the arms 
of a pugilist, and danced up and down like an uncultivated 
savage. 

Jumps took hold of her halter, and pulled her down by main force, 
saying : “ Her don’t do noddins like dot no more. You vas get on 

her pooty qvick now. Jack, und 1 vill say some Dutch Bible in dose 
ears, und she vill mind me right ervay.” 

Jack mounted as he was directed. Jumps holding the pony down 
with one hand, and stroking her gently with the other, while he whis- 
pered some unknown gibberish in her right ear. The effect was as 
immediate as it was surprising, for when Jumps gave her her head, 
and said; “ Now her vas von nice leetle girl.” she started off as 
demurely as if she were a well-seasoned old maid, and thenceforth 
gave Jack no trouble. 

Meanwhile, Dick had mounted Turvy, who, as though fond memory 
had brought the light of other days around her, started for the sand- 
hills with the speed of a deer. Dick stuck to her like a patent sticking 
plaster, but let her go as she would. For a while it seemed as if she 
had heard all about Alexander the Great and his conquest of the fiery 
Bucephalus, and as if she meant that no Sable Island Alexander 
should conquer her. because she intended to make a conspicuous 
example of the success of woman’s rights. But alas ! Dick soon 
returned with her. and she was so gentle and docile that Bingo walked 
by her side and showed his approval of the conquest by wagging his 
great tail after his most swinging manner. 

•• Yo, ho, ho!” laughed Jumps, vociferously: “she vas know her 
boss now, und her boss vas know him, too. Dot vas goot, mein 
poys. You makes no svear mit dose moudhs, nor mit dose foots 
und hands. Dot vas der vay she vill make dem ponies goot all dese 
times.” 

Jumps hated profanity as much as he did the peppery disposition 
of which profanity is the cowardly and brutal expression. Besides 


100 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


he was a great friend of animals, and never liked to see them abused. 
“ If 1 vas her. und she vas me, I’d vant him to pe goot to me,” he 
would say. “ She vas dose und I vas her, und I vas do unto dose as 
I vas hafe dose do unto him.” 

The boys knew his meaning well enough to understand the exalted 
origin of his sentiments, and they thought too much of both the 
speaker and his sentiment to laugh at his blunders, even. 

Jack formed such an attachment for Topsy that he said to Dick 
one day : “ The Yankee Doodle who rode to town on a pony 

wouldn’t have called it Macaroni if it had been like Topsy.” 



THE 

GREAT UNDERCURRENT 

OTWITHSTANDING 
all that was ■ done by 
Captain Moline and the 
giant, and the men in 
general, to keep Dick 
and Jack employed 
and amused, there was 
such a strong under- 
current running in the 
boys’ minds they were 
in danger of being car- 
ried away by it. They 
became so homesick 
and restless that they 
slighted their food, 
avoided diversions and 
moaned in their sleep 
at night. 

“ Now. look here, 
boys,” Captain Moline 
said to them one morn- 
ing after they had 
scarcely touched a mouthful of breakfast — the men not being pres- 
ent — “ this will never do. I know that people seldom realize what 

101 


102 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


home is until they are separated from it, and I know that home is 
the best place outside of heaven. I’ve got a wife and three children 
on the mainland. 1 couldn’t bear to think of bringing them here to 
live, yet I’ve got to send for them, for there are times when I get so 
homesick I become almost distracted, and then everything goes 
wrong with me and my work. It is a dreadful feeling. Why, two 
years ago we had a poor fellow here — a little older than Dick — who got 
so homesick that in spite of everything we could do to keep him up, he 
just pined away and died. We had saved him from a wreck, but we 
couldn't save him from homesickness. He almost broke our hearts, 
when, with his very last breath, he begged us to carry him to his 
mother. It had such an effect upon the men that it almost dis- 
organized my crew ; they vowed they’d leave the island if they had 
to steal the lifeboats to enable them to do it. It was a long time 
before I could get them out of the fit. Coaxing did no good, and 
they cared no more for reasoning than they did for the wind ; then 1 
went at them with hammer and tongs, and shamed and threatened 
them, though I felt as badly as they. 

Homesickness is more catching than the measles, and, in some 
respects, is worse than the smallpox. Your homesickness is already 
beginning to affect my men. Why, there is that great giant of a 
Jumps, who sympathizes with you so much, that he watches you as 
a cow watches her calf, and now that you are moping, he hardly 
smiles. His cheerfulness is one of the mainstays of our crew, and 
we can’t afford to have him going about like a crow that has had its 
wings clipped.” 

“ Well, captain, I believe that you are right,” said Dick, •• but we 
can’t help thinking of home, and the trouble they are in there on 
our account.” 

“ I know you can’t, nor do 1 want you to forget. What I want is 
that you should keep your legs under you, so that you can get home 
in good shape. You want to go home well and hearty, and then 
the joy of your return will almost pay for the sufferings of your 
absence.” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


103 


What would you have us do to carry out your wishes?” asked 
Jack. “ I’m willing to do anything you say, for as I am now, 1 feel 
as if all the spring had been taken out of me, and I had been turned 
into lead.” 

“ Do ? Why, just knock about like a pair of live boys. Bury 
your black clothes in the sand for good. My men thinK the world 
of you, and if they see you cutting around like your natural selves, 
they’ll feel like doing the same, for even old sheep will imitate young 
lambs. So long as you kept yourselves in skipping trim, I felt like 
skipping myself, and all the more so because youngsters are so scarce 
here, and when you began to act like lambs caught in a snowstorm it 
made me feel chilly all over.” 

Dick had gotten so much light from the captain’s way of putting 
the case, that he began to feel like a kitten that has found a sunny 
spot in a dark room. He was actually smiling again, when he said : 
•• Well, captain, if you catch us playing chilled lambs again, you may 
put us into the black hole,” referring to a little plank prison that was 
used as a sort of penalty house for shipwrecked sailors who became 
too unruly or mutinous. 

The giant, who had remained in the room to clear it up for the 
day, cocked his ears for everything that was said. At first his face 
wore a cloud of discontent, and he looked like a Goliath of a boy puck- 
ering his mouth for a big cry, but as the conversation went on, he 
looked like an overgrown man again, and when the boys declared 
that they would perform the miracle of casting out their own low 
spirits. Jumps swung his dishcloth over his head, and joy was shining 
through his milky-blue eyes. 

Dot plack hole vas gets no poys for gompany, you petter pe- 
lieve !” he exclaimed, “ und dem wittles vas jumps ven dem moudhs 
let her in vonce more, und she vas say, • Ach ! put dot ish goot !” 

But while Dick and Jack were fighting and winning their battles on 
desolate Sable Island, their father and mother were passing through 
far worse conflicts at Black Point. 

When the fog came down, the day the boys went on their last 
halibut trip. Mr. Melville, at dinner time, went to the cove to blow 


104 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


the conch, thinking that the far-reaching sound would help his sons 
to get their bearings for the mouth of the little inlet. His first 
shock was experienced when he found the compass, which the boys 
had forgotten to take with them, standing by the shell upon the fish- 
house shelf, but when the rainy night came on and the boys did not 
return, there was agony in the household. 

On the following morning, Wallace, mounted on Black Prince, 
hastened to the nearest settlements, and spread the tidings. In an 
incredibly short time, the news spread up and down the whole coast, 
and all the papers far and near added to the constantly increasing 
publicity of the event. Every outgoing vessel was on the alert for 
some clew to the fate of the missing brothers. 

So great was the change made in Mrs. Melville’s appearance in a 
few weeks, that one would hardly have recognized her as the woman 
who stood at the corner of the brown cottage and waved her ker- 
chief to the boys rowing out to sea in the clear sunlight on the morn- 
ing of the disappearance. Nor was Mr. Melville the same man. 
Even the children moved less alertly, and little Mary — one of God’s 
prematurely thoughtful mites — voiced the general woe in childhood’s 
broken sentences. 

The mail that Wallace brought from Port Mouton was now quite 
large, and most of the letters showed how widely people had become 
interested in the fate of the boys, and in the anxieties of the Mel- 
villes. 

Among the first letters, however, was one from old Mr. Gray — 
the man whom the boys had called Old Gray Blanket, and the one 
who was making such a hobby of the near approach of the end of the 
world. Had it not been so supremely silly, the letter would have 
been decidedly irritating. The prophet of the end of all things wrote 
that he had done his best to convert Mr. Melville and his boys to 
his way of thinking, but unsuccessfully. And he had warned him 
and the boys that the judgment of God would be visited upon them 
when they least expected it. He hoped that Mr. Melville, while under 
the hand of God, would, with his wife, join the people to whom he be- 
longed, and thus avert further and worse visitations. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


105 


The harpy ? He was so hopelessly spiteful, he invaded even the 
sanctities of a great sorrow with the spiteful specter he misnamed 
God, and had not sense enough to see that the picture he drew of 
the Supreme Being was only a faithful picture of himself, and that 
the warnings he gave were only the wishes he indulged. 

There were several other letters, that might have been written by 
Job’s comforters, but they were not so flagrant as Old Gray 
Blanket’s. Keeping the knowledge of all such letters from his wife. 
Mr, Melville disposed of them by throwing them where they be- 
longed— into the fire. 

There were two letters that were prized above measure, though 
written by very different persons. 

One came from a fisherman, who. in a painfully cramped script, 
composed of mutilated words arrayed in ghastly lines of staggering 
grammar, wrote as follows : 

Wen i wns yung, i lawst miself ter se an didunt git find agin til i wus 
awlmost ded an now iin aty-sics yers ol wich yor boys ma be got agin an 
liv to be tber sam so tak a bol on god an nuvur let gow yor feller sufferer 
an pilgmin strangur 

Jo Jaokson. 

The other letter was from a Boston lady, who, having seen a para- 
graph about the missing boys in a Boston paper, wrote that her elder 
brother, when only six years old, floated out of Provincetown harbor 
in a small dory, was picked up by an outgoing Nantucket whaler, 
and, after going the whole three years’ voyage with the crew, was 
returned in safety to the family. 

" Mother,” said Mr. Melville, after receiving the second letter. 
“ the old fisherman and the Boston lady are alike in this, they have 
both dipped their pens into the heart of the Father of us all, and 
from the fulness of that fountain have sent their messages to us. 

I am not a superstitious man, as you well know, but I have noticed, 
in the course of my life, that some things take on the character of 
signs that certain things are to come to pass. When two persons, 
so widely removed from each other, and so different in education. 


106 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


are impelled to write to us, as the fisherman and the Boston lady 
have done, I’m inclined to think that the impulse comes from a di- 
vine as well as a human source. Besides, there is scarcelv a night 
that I do not dream of the boys' return. Things on earth are .some- 
times reflected in the sky in such a way that they ate seen a great 
distance. Our boys may be safe and sound, and it may be that the 
fact is being reflected to us as distinctly as is possible under the cir- 
cumstances.” 

During the first part of the long winter that followed, Mr. Mel- 
ville did a great deal of preaching among the neighboring 
fishing settlements, and it was while on one of these tours 
that he received another “sign” — as he called it. One Sun- 
day, after having travelled twenty miles and preached four ser- 
mons, he was invited to stay the night at the house of a comfortably- 
to-do fisherman. 

When Mr. Melville was seated by the side of the blazing hearth, 
Mr. Blewitt, the host, after stabling Black Prince, came in, and, as 
soon as he was seated, abruptly said : 

•• Now. elder, 1 want you to tell me all about those miss- 
ing boys.” 

“ What can 1 tell you,” said Mr. Melville, wearily. •• 1 thought 
that by this time everybody along the coast knew as much about the 
circumstances as 1 did.” 

" What kind of a boat did they have ? Could the boys handle a 

boat at sea? Did they have anything to eat? What was the 

weather when they started and after they were missed ? Now. 

there is a string of questions for you. But I’m an old tar, sir, 

what knows a thing or two about this coast and that old sea; 
and what’s more, 1 have a special reason for being so pushing about 
this thing.” 

Quickened by the man’s manner, Mr. Melville gave him all the 
details in his possession. 

“Ah, I see! There’s a beginning to everything, even to the 
Bible, and to creation itself, and the beginning of the trouble with 
them boys was the forgetting of their compass. That did the whole 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


107 


business, sir. But there’s no use in growling at them now. Yes, 
that did the business ; the sharpest man that runs this coast, or has 
two eyes to his head, might as well be headed up in a barrel and 
set afloat as to be caught at sea without a compass. 1 got in that 
same fix once. Yes, sir, 1 forgot my compass, and I was a good 
deal older than your boys, too ; in fact I was a married man, and so 
should have had more sense, you see. I started out one morning 
in a hurry after a mackerel school. Got a boat-load, but while 1 
was at it, and not noticing anything but mackerel, down came the 
fog, and when 1 went to lay my course for shore, the compass wasn’t 
in the boat. Well, sir, if you had taken my head off 1 couldn’t have 
been in a worse box, especially when the wind began to blow, and 1 
had to make ready for scudding before it by throwing nearly all my 
mackerel overboard again, I was four days pounding about on that 
sea, living on raw mackerel and drinking rain water, and where do 
you suppose I fetched up?” 

“ I’m sure I couldn’t conjecture,” said Mr. Melville, following the 
man’s words very closely. 

•• Not in Davy Jones’ locker, seeing as how I’m here this minnit, 
and as well and comfortable as a robin in a cherry tree. Well, sir, 
1 fetched up plum against Sable Island.” 

“ You did ! That was wonderful !” 

“ Yes, I did. But how I ever got through that infernal surf — 
begging your pardon for the word — the good Lord only knows. All 
I know is that I put on every inch of canvas I had. Says I to my- 
self, I’ve only been married six months, and I’m not going to give 
up the rest of it if 1 can help it, so I just squared away and ripped it 
before the wind till I banged the boat smash upon the beach ; and 
she came down with such a thud it knocked the bottom out of her 
from stem to starn. I knew something about Sable Island — it isn’t 
like Eden, you know — yet I just down on my knees and thanked the 
Lord for all 1 was worth. 

" But when I’d been there a whole year I didn’t feel quite so 
thankful. Fact is, I began to grumble like a thunderstorm. Cos 
why? There was Polly, you see — the same that sets ’tother 


108 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


siae of the fireplace now trying to give me a wink not to go 
on so before the minister. Well. sir. I thought she’d begin to 
think I’d gone to the bottom, and then the next thing, she’d begin 
to think about getting another husband, and the idee, seeing as how 
we’d been married so short a time, almost drove me crazy. But I 
got back here as sound as a cobble stone, and Polly says she never 
so much as dreamed of getting married again, and she sticks to it 
yet, though we have lived twenty years together, and she’s fifty-two 
years old.” 

“John Blewitt — you ought to be ashamed of yourself!” Mrs. 
Blewitt exclaimed, warningly. 

“Well, sir, what I’m driving at is this; I says to myself 
all along, them boys had just as good a chance to fetch up 

on Sable Island as 1 did. And from what you have told me 
about their pranks with the surf, and all that sort of thing, 
they’d stand a better chance of getting ashore than I did. 

If they are there, they’ll have to stay till next summer. And 

if 1 was you. I’d just drop my anchor to that bottom and not 

lift it to the cathead again till you have had time to hear from 
Sable Island. That’s why I’ve let my tongue wobble like a rudder 
without a tiller. When 1 heard you preaching this evening about 
patience and resignation in suffering, and al' that sort of thing, 
says 1 to myself, ‘ he’s thinking about his boys, and I’ll take him 
home to stay the night with me, and I’ll tell him my experience, 
and then exhort him to belay his hopes to Sable Island, as well as 
to God.’ ” 

“ You have done me a good turn, Mr. Blewitt, far better than you 
know; but why didn’t you come over to Black Point and let me 
know about this before ?” 

“ Well, sir, fact is. I’d as soon think of steering alongside of a 
battleship what has all her guns going as to think of steering for a 
minister; it’s because I’m such a born sinner that I’m so scared 
of preachers. But when you went on to-night as you did, not in 
the if-you-don’t-you’ll-be-damned style that we’ve got so used to 
that we don’t care a fig for it, but as if you had a heart under your 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


109 


black coat, I just swiped my eyes, and says to myself, while the 
tears were leakine out of me. ‘ he’s the man to set folks on their 
pins, and if 1 can get him into my house, I’ll do my best to set him 
on his again.’ 

•• And now. Polly, both me and the minister have done so much 
talking to-day, we are hungry enough for a second supper; so just 
fetch us something to eat, and I’ll acknowledge that you’d have 
waited more than a year before you married again.” 

The next morning, Mr. Melville faced a driving snowstorm, and 
put Black Prince to his best gait, for he was in a hurry to get home, 
as the bearer of another •• sign.” 




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TAKIN(.! PUIVATK kOOMS. 

OT far from the station was 
the hulk of the Maskomet. 
whose name could still be read 
upon the stern and along the 
starboard and port rail of the 
quarter-deck. The figure- 
head, a full-length carving in 
wood of an over-sized young 
Indian squaw, with a broad 
expanse of naked bust and a 
liberal length of naked legs, 
with girth sufficient for any 
ordinary waist, was still in a 
healthy condition, though the 
complexion, originally of gilt, 
was somewhat the worse from 
the wear and tear of wind and 
weather. 

Both the name and the 
figure-head indicated the na- 
tionality of the ship, and the 
Lo-the-poor-lndian partialities 
of the builders, as well. Mas- 
komet was doubtless the name of the poor Indian maiden on the 
bow, and her plaintive presence there, in all probability, commemo- 


/r".- 


o- 


112 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


rated some thrilling story describing the conflicts between the savage 
tomahawks of Indians and the gentle shotted gun of the white man. 

Dick and Jack had often viewed the maiden Maskomet, and in- 
dulged in blunt criticisms upon the art displayed in her structure, as 
well as in wild guesses as to her history, but they had never boarded 
the Maskomet herself. They were so used to wrecks, and wrecks 
at best were melancholy things, and first and last, there were so 
many of them scattered up and down Sable Island, the boys preferred 
to stay on the outside of the dismal hulks. 

The Maskomet lay on an even keel, broadside up the beach, and 
half burled in the sand. Stumps of her three masts, running up to 
the first cross-trees, still remained supported by shrouds that were 
almost as good as when the ship sailed the sea. The main-top was 
utilized by Captain Moline for a crow’s nest— or observation station. 
A snug box was built at the top of the mast, and here were water- 
proof lockers containing spyglass, signal flags and signal rockets, for 
use when occasion called. No one was permitted to ascend the rat- 
lines leading to this lookout except on duty. 

One morning, after Dick and Jack had tired themselves racing up 
and down the beach with each other, and chasing the surf, as it re- 
ceded. for the sake of being chased by it in turn, as it rolled up the 
sands, they threw themselves down in the dry sand under the very 
nose of Maskomet, who, indifferent to their presence, kept her faded 
eyes fixed vacantly upon the west, as if dreaming of the wilderness 
that was once the undisturbed heritage of her forefathers. 

Dick sat in a position where his eyes could rake the proportions 
of the ship fore and aft, and it was now he noticed her graceful lines, 
felt a sympathy for her, and a desire to board her. 

‘ Jack,” he said. “ let’s board the Maskomet, and see what there 
is inside of her.” 

There was a big hole stove in the hull, which answered for en- 
trance to those who had occasion to go up to the crow’s nest ; when 
the boys reached this. Jack halted outside, seeing how dark it was 
within. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


I !3 

But Dick went far enough in to look around, and said to Jack : 
'• It does look boogharish in here, for a fact, but if any spirits ever 
got into this place, they must have been washed out long ago. or got 
tired of waiting for a chance to frighten somebody. Come on. jack, 
what’s the matter with you?” 

•• Well, she did have spirits aboard of her once,” Jack replied, 
still holding back. 

‘‘What’s that!” And Dick, with one spring, jumped out into 
daylight again. 

“ And they were mighty bad spirits, too. Captain Moline told me 
all about them one day when you went out with the patrol.” 

“ What did he tell you ? I thought he never told sailor yarns.” 

“ It wasn’t a yarn, but naked truth. If it hadn’t been for them, 
the Maskomet wouldn’t have come ashore here. She had casks of 
spirits among her cargo, and the captain and the mate got so drunk 
on them that the men, seeing the condition of their officers, broke 
into the casks and got drunk also, and that’s how the Maskomet 
happens to be here. That’s the kind of spirits 1 mean, and they are 
bad enough, goodness knows— worse than any other kind 1 ever 
heard of excepting the kind that’s lost.” 

"Yes, bad enough in all conscience, for they have made millions 
of worse wrecks than this. But 1 didn’t know that this was what you 
were driving at. Did he tell you what became of the crew?” 

"Yes; the lifemen got them ashore, though they were so drunk 
they had to be thrown into the bottom of the boat like so many fish. 
And when they sobered up, and the ship was driven in by a high tide 
and a high sea, they thought they were going to have a high time by 
having all the liquor they wanted. They made a regular fight to get 
on board, but the lifemen fought them back till Captain Moline and 
another man knocked the casks and kegs in the head and spilled 
all the liquor in the hold. And when the lifemen got on to the 
beach again, the sailors were so mad, there was another pitched 
battle. The captain said if it hadn’t been for Jumps, the sailors 
would have had everything their own way. The giant knocked the 
men down as fast as they could get up, and pounded them right and 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


1 14 

left, till they were glad to give up. After that, there was no trouble, 
for half of the men were sent to the other end of the island. The 
men were on the island nine months and twenty days before they 
got a chance to get away.” 

“ Guess they were sober enough when they went away, then.” 

" Yes, but five ot them didn’t get away ; two died, and the other 
three are members of the crew that’s here now. They said they’d 
rather stay here, where they could keep sober and save their wages, 
and be of use. than to spend their money and ruin themselves fool- 
ing among the bar-rooms of the cities and towns.” 

" Who are the men ?” 

• Billings is one — the one they call judge.” 

‘ Why. Billings is a tip-top fellow. He’s as clean-lipped as a 
baby, and a good, square chap every way. And the other two ?” 

“Tompkins and McTavish.” 

“ Tompkins and McTavish ! Who would suppose that either of 
them had ever been soaked in rum. They are the ones who got gold 
medals from the English and United States governments for bravery 
when the Glasgow came on shore. The gun couldn’t get a line to 
her, and the surf-boat upset twice in trying to get oui, and then 
these two men took a dory and fought the surf till they reached the 
ship and made fast a line, and stayed on board till every man of the 
crew was landed. When they got ashore themselves they were 
half frozen. That’s how McTavish lost the greater part of his 
ears. The giant is always bragging about those two men — and no 
wonder.” 

Jack laughed, as he said : “ Yet the giant nearly killed them in 

the row over the Maskomet’s spirits. Captain Moline told me that 
the big scar on Tompkins’ forehead is where the giant’s fist hit him 
and laid the flesh open to the skull.” 

“ Well, some sinners can’t be converted in any other way. 1 
shouldn’t want to take my medicine in that style. One solid blow 
from jumps’ big fist would almost land me on the mainland. But 
come on, let’s get into the Maskomet.” 

This time jack made no objections, and both were soon on deck. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


1 15 

Nearly all the upper works of the ship were in quite good order, 
save where a piece of the port bulwark had been carried away. 
Jack being a good climber, proposed that they should go up to the 
crow’s nest. 

The captain is so good-natured he won’t mind our going up.” 
he said. 

“Everyman is good-natured till he gets mad,” replied Dick; 
“ and if we were to break the rules and go to climbing into that Blue 
Beard chamber, we’d get thunder from him in no time. If it is 
proper for us to go up, he’ll invite us to do it if we stick to his heels 
close enough some day when he is going up. But here’s the cabin, 
there’s no law against poking about that all we want to.” 

The ship had a high quarter-deck, so that two steps gave easy ac- 
cess to the cabin, which consisted of three good-sized rooms. One 
of these was handsomely decorated with carved medallions set in 
gilded panels. The heavy, fixed furniture of the cabin still re- 
mained, and the thick glass of the lights was as good as when 
first put in. 

Dick sat down upon one of the lockers, while Jack searched from 
cranny to cranny with an eagerness that made him oblivious of the 
uncanny creatures he had professed to fear. When he had com- 
pleted his search, he called : •• Look here, Dick, I’ve got an idea!” 

“ And I have more than 1 know what to do with,” was Dick’s an- 
swer. " Fact is. I’m thinking of moving in here.” 

“ By cracky! You’re the looking glass of my thoughts, old chap.” 

Then Dick went on to mention some things that had caused him 
much discomfort, and not a few scruples. “ It isn’t decent for us 
to have to go to bed and get up in public, as we have to do over in 
the men's loft. Besides, though most of the men are clean enough 
in their talk, some of them get so smutty at times that it makes me 
sick at my stomach. 1 could stand it, perhaps, but for you ; a boy’s 
ears ought to be kept as clean as a girl’s ears. 1 wonder why it is 
that some men talk as if they thought they couldn’t be funny with- 
out getting nasty.” 

‘ Look here, Dick! We don’t want to set up for a pair of boy 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


1 16 

prigs, do we ? The men treat us splendidly, and we don’t want to 
hurt their feelings ; yet it’s just as you say — some of their yarns smell 
worse than a pig pen. And this getting up and going to bed before 
them makes me feel like a savage.” 

“Then we’ll come here, if the captain will let us, though he’ll 
think we are after the novelty more than we are after the morality 
of the thing.” 

But the captain had been thinking of the very things that trou’bled 
the boys, and, besides, he was ready to fall in with anything that 
would occupy their minds and time. And when they consulted with 
him about taking possession of the Maskomet, he said ; 

“ Why, to be sure ! How stupid we have been that we didn’t 
think of this before. Almost the entire cabin outfit of the Masko- 
met is stowed away there in the wreckhouse, and all you’ll have to 
do is to carry it bacK again and make yourselves as snug as the 
Maskomet captain was himself. Of course, some of the things will 
be a little musty, from having been wet with salt water and from 
being so long stowed away. A good airing on deck wilt soon remedy 
that, however. We have even got an old stove that you can put in 
there to cook with, and another small one that will do for a heater, 
when the cold weather comes on. I’ll order Jumps to give you ra- 
tions of pork, salt junk, ship biscuit, oatmeal, brown sugar, and any- 
thing else we have, once a week, and fresh stuff you can help your- 
selves to with your guns and your own wits, for there is no end of 
game up at the lake. 

“And, furthermore, when you have settled yourselves down. I’ll 
take you up into the crow’s nest, and if you will learn all about the 
signal flags and rockets, so as to pass an examination on them 
before ^he crew. I’ll make Dick captain of the main-top with Jack 
for his mate. But a time may come when we’ll use you in dead 
earnest, so, you see, that there must be no fooling with this part of 
the business. 

“ Then, there’s the hold of the Maskomet, which you can use as a 
stable for Topsy and Turvy. The sand floor will make them feel at 
home there, though you may, at the first, have to coax them a little 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


1 17 

before you can make them believe that the hole in the side of the 
hulk is a barn door. 

“ There is a little place back of the cabin that was used for the 
ship’s armory — you can keep your guns and ammunition there ; and, 
if you want sword exercise, there’s a lot of old cutlasses among the 
other fighting truck in the wreckhouse from which you can help 
yourselves. 

•• ft will be a nice thing for us to have a pair of neighbors that we 
can call upon once in a while, and we’ll polish up our manners so as 
to make our calls in style.” 

The captain ran on like a child with a new plaything, and the 
giant and the men, whose monotonous lives made them thirsty for 
anything new, entered into the spirit of the plan as heartily as though 
it were a question of filling a big Christmas stocking for an only 
child. In two days Dick and Jack were at home ” to company on 
the Maskomet, v/ith a plum-duff supper served by the giant in his 
best Sable Island style, with a showing of china and silver that would 
have made some of the gentler sex grow green with envy. Big 
Bingo climbed the plank gangway, built from the hold up to the main 
deck, and took his share of plum-duff with as much zeal as the best 
of ^em. 

In a week’s time Dick and jack had so mastered the simple code 
of the signal flags and the duties of the main-top, as to be able to 
answer any question the lifemen saw fit to put to them, though 
Boggs, who thought he knew more than all the rest of the men put 
together, tried to entangle them in posers that had nothing to do 
with main-top possibilities. 

The boys became so elated over the success of their examination, 
and so exalted by their silver and china, and so excited by the old 
cutlasses, pistols and guns they brought from the wreckhouse and 
hung in various ways upon their cabin walls, that their imaginations 
cut up all sorts of didos with them. Their favorite amusement in 
the evening, when they were alone, was to suppose that the Masko- 
met was an American battleship voyaging around the world and 
striking terror and wonder into pirates of every clime and into nations 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


1 18 

of every name that were not ready to do homage to the Stars and 
Stripes. Recalling their race with the revenue cutter on the You 
Bet, they loaded their guns with shot as big as barrels and blew the 
revenue cutter out of water with a frequency that made it seem as 
if that insignificant craft had more lives than a cat. They even 
sailed into the Straits of Gibraltar, and attacking Gibraltar itself, 
wrested that fortification from the English, and, with hats off in 
courtly politeness and generosity, restored it to Spain with a promise 
to keep the blasted Britishers from ever touching it again. 

Occasionally Jack would yawn from the excess of Dick’s imagina- 
tion, and once he said, point blank: '‘Oh, belay there, Dick! 
What’s the use of going on in that style, when you know you are 
hatching it all out of your own brain.” 

Dick had the breath taken out of hir.i for a minute, but after lean- 
ing back on the locker-lounge he recovered himself enough to point 
his long, lean, brown forefinger at jack, and say ; •* What’s the use ? 
What’s the use of anything that’s bigger than the little things around 
us ? What’s the use of any of those story-telling books of father’s 
library we have almost worn the covers off of ? What’s the use of 
Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, and Homer’s Poems, and " Gulli- 
ver’s Travels,” and “ The Ancient Mariner,” and “ Paradise Lost,” 
and “ The Arabian Nights,” and "The Pilgrim’s Progress.” and 
" The Flying Dutchman,” and all that sort of thing ? Why. 1 should 
think that Old Gray Blanket had been making you a visit, and telling 
the Lord in his prayers what awful books you were reading, and ask- 
ing Him to hurry up the end of the world, so that father’s books, and 
all others like them, might be turned into ashes.” 

Dick rattled all this off so glibly, beginning in tones of well-feigned 
indignation and ending with such a comical imitation of Old Gray 
Blanket’s sing-song prayer swing, that Jack interrupted him with the 
violence of his laughter. 

Well, rather than have another such a rope as that flung around 
my neck,” said Jack, "you may go ahead with the old Maskomet ; 
but as we have knocked nearly everything on earth into splinters with 
her guns, let us make a trip to the moon and tackle the Man in the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


I 19 

Moon, or go to Saturn and steal his rings, or to Jupiter and make 
ninepins of his satellites.” 

“ That’s more like it,” said Dick, “ and shows that my mate has 
found his sea-legs again.” 

One night, after Dick had turned the Maskomet into the Flying 
Dutchman, and had manned her with a crew of ancient mariners, 
and had taken a roving commission to scare everything that was on 
the ocean or under it, Jack, by way of changing the subject, gave a 
yell that made him think that the squaw figure-head of the Masko- 
met had suddenly come into the cabin to make them a present of a 
real Indian war whoop. 

“ Gracious, Jack ! How you frightened me!” Dick exclaimed, 
with some show of irritation. 

Well, it’s time you cam.e to your senses — I thought that a good 
yell would bring you back to them. 1 want a chance to say that I 
am getting tired of salt junk and soaked and scoused hard tack. 
Suppose we bundle out in the morning and go duck hunting — a fresh 
mess will be worth more than tons of this stuff you’ve been turning 
on to a fellow by the ship load. I move that we oil our guns to- 
night, so that, if the weather is right, we can get off bright and 
early.” 

Very good.” Dick replied, the chills, caused by Jack’s shriek, 
having had time to leave his veins. “ I’d like a fresh mess myself. 
But I wish we had our Black Point guns along with us. That old 
double-barreled gun 1 shoot with here kicks like a mule, and hurts 
me almost as much as she hurts the game, and that long-nosed 
single-barrel of yours scatters shot worse than our pepper-box scat- 
ters pepper.” 

" There’s so much the more reason, then,” said jack, “ why you 
should give your gun a good cleaning and oiling. It’s been a week 
or more since you swabbed her, and there is so much salt air about 
here, rust comes as easy as sin. I am well enough pleased with old 
long bore, she scatters so that she’s almost sure to hit something, 
whether 1 aim or not. 1 fired her off the other day, when you were 


120 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


away — fired just to get rid of her charge — and she brought down an 
old gray gull that couldn’t have been more surprised than I was." 

“ Well, don’t you fire that thing off unless I’m dead behind you. 
I mean-a-not, unless I'm astern of you. for, in addition to scattering 
like a hailstorm, she’s apt to go off on a half-cock like Old Gray 
Blanket’s sudden exhortations.” 

When the boys, mounted on their ponies, rode out of the hole in 
the Maskomet’s side the next morning, fully equipped for a forenoon 
of sport, the two giants, the great Dutchman and the great Bernard 
dog. saluted them each in his own way. 

Jumps had heard Dick and Jack wish for a chew of the spruce 
gum they kept themselves supplied with from native sources at Black 
Point, and he greeted them with : “ Here vas dose gum dot her 

vants,” and he handed each a lump the size of a small egg. In 
chopping a hemlock plank into firewood, he had found a large sack 
of solidified resin in a cavity of the plank, such as is quite frequently 
found in that kind of wood. This resin, he boiled and tempered till 
it reached the required consistency, and, having been a gum hunter 
in his own boyhood, he formed it as nearly into the shape of a good 
fat nodule of spruce gum as he could make it. 

By gum !” exclaimed Jack, after having broken off enough of 
his lump to test its quality, this is gum. sure enough. Where did 
you raise it?’’ 

“ It’s the genuine article. Jumps,” said Dick, chewing at it like a 
graduated gum-fiend ; " and I’ll bring you back six ducks for it.” 

“And I’ll fetch you six more,” joined Jack. 

“ Yas, dot vas gum ; und ven she vas goot enough, he vas not hafe 
to say vare it comes, und you don’t hafe to pring dem ducks vot you 
say.” And, shaking his great sides in self-congratulation over his 
success, he walked away. 

Bingo went among the dunes with them. Yet he was in the habit 
of either barking or growling his displeasure at every shot fired in 
his majestic presence. As a hunter of game, he wasn’t worth a pin. 
All his instincts ran to saving life, and not to destroying it. He 
would make friendly overtures to a rat, if he saw one around. But 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


121 


when human beings were struggling single-handed with the surf, or 
when they were cast, unnoticed, upon the beach, or when lifemen, 
as was sometimes the case, got injured among the dunes in the 
storms of winter, he was a great hero, in spite of his skin and shape. 
And more than one human being owed his escape from a lingering 
or sudden death to Bingo's sagacity and fidelity. If even a wild 
pony was found in distress among the dunes. Bingo would give the 
men no rest till relief of death was inflicted in mercy upon the help- 
less, or the aid of remedies was applied to such as still had a fight- 
ing chance for life. 

He trotted ahead of the boys, as they went among the dunes, 
more by way of seeing that they met with no disaster than by way of 
abetting their sanguinary purposes. 

As the boys advanced, innumerable plover and curlew fluttered 
upward from the minature marsh meadows abounding among the 
dunes, and piped such shrill warning cries, that the gulls began to 
flock around the boys by thousands. The naturalists say that there 
are over ninety different species of gulls, and it seemed as if every 
specie was represented in the cloud of wings that darkened the air 
while Dick and Jack went on their way. And so belligerent did they 
become, that boys, ponies and dog were compelled to adroit dodging 
in order to preserve their eyes, ears and noses from the vicious beak 
strokes of their swift and agile enemies. Every gull had a musquito 
soul, which said as plainly as actions could say, •• I’m out for blood.” 

Suddenly, the boys, on turning a dune, came upon a herd of thirty 
wild ponies, which, after defiantly standing at bay for a moment, 
scurried away in such a compact body, that they looked as though a 
small tornado had been out gathering horse hair and was now trying 
to roll it into a compact ball for transportation to the main. The 
gulls condensed themselves into a mixed cloud above the fleeing 
herd, and, eddying over them in circles, yet keeping pace with^ their 
flight, sped away, giving the boys a chance to sit erect once more. 

Just before reaching the lake, Dick and Jack dismounted, and bid- 
ding Bingo, who was useless for retrieving, to watch the ponies, they 
made their way, under shelter of the gradually diminishing dunes, to 


122 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


a point where they could command a full view of the lake, a shallow 
body of water fourteen miles long and of an average width of half a 
mile. Nothing in the shape of a tree flourishes there, and as a proof 
that all attempts to colonize Sable Island must fail in the future, as 
they have failed in the past, and that Nature has put a veto upon all 
idea of having children born there, she steadfastly refuses to grow so 
much as a single switch for the convenience of either parents or 
schoolmasters. 

But, Shade of Fatherland 1 What a camp-meeting, or rather a 
Chicago World’s Fair, of ducks! Ducks by the millions! Ducks 
of every duck kindred, tribe and nation under the heavens, and in 
such a variety of hues that even the eyes of a Parisian would have 
been confounded by them, and such a diversity of duck tongues that 
Babel was as plain English in comparison. They were swimming in 
the water and flying in the air with so many different movements 
that Dick and Jack grew dizzy watching them. They played to- 
gether by families and fought one another by tribes for position, and, 
altogether, acted so much like human beings, that one could almost 
believe with the Hindoos that many spirits of the dead having failed 
to get their angel wings had put on ducks’ feathers and come back 
to earth to see if they couldn’t in the next ending of their earthly 
struggles come out in better shape. 

Jack, almost frightened by the amazing hosts, said : " Look here. 
Dick ! What if those fellows should take a notion to flop down here 
and pile themselves upon us. We’d be in a worse fix than that 
Roman girl father tells about, who, as the price of her treachery, de- 
manded jewels, and had the ornaments of the soldiers piled upon her 
so thick that there wasn’t enough breath left in her body to enable 
her to wear them.” 

For answer, Dick said: “Here goes!” and bang, bang went 
both barrels of his old kick-back. Jack blazed away, also ; and so 
they kept it up as fast as they could load and fire, scarcely taking the 
trouble to aim, but bringing down ducks at every discharge. 

“There, Jack, I’m fired out. not a charge left,” said Dick, after 
he had exhausted his ammunition. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


123 


" And I’m tired out,” Jack responded, stretching himself at full 
length in the beach grass. But how are we to get our game ? 
Bingo won’t touch a dead bird.” 

“ We need not worry about that,” replied Dick, “ Jumps said there 
was a punt down in the sedge — placed there for picking up ducks.” 
And on hunting for it they found it without any trouble, and picked 
up thirty-one dead and wounded, which they put in two gunny bags 
for convenient slinging over the back of one of the ponies. 

•• And now for the cranberries to fill the other two bags for my 
load.” exclaimed Jack. “We must have a whole barrel for our own 
use during the winter.” 

Sable Island’s odd lake — the oddest lake we ever heard or read 
of — is surrounded on all sides by a deep, black, tough bog, knitted 
together by the roots of the cranberry vine, which also abounds among 
the small bogs scattered among the dunes over the whole island. 
Around that lake, in the season of the berry, thousands of barrels of 
cranberries grow scarlet in the face, because there is no one to pick 
or market them They waste their sourness upon the desert air be- 
cause in the nature of things there is no possible way of bringing 
them and the mouths of mainland humanity together. 

Dick and Jack picked two bushels in less than an hour ; and such 
berries! New Jerseymen, Cape Codders and Michiganders, if you 
were only able to get at those Sable Island cranberries, their size, 
color and abundance would make your fortunes. 

When Jack had slung the two bags of berries over Topsy’s back, 
they started on their gull-besieged way for the Maskomet. 

The giant received his twelve ducks for two pieces of gum ; nor 
was the price high, seeing that -gum was so scarce and ducks so 
plentiful on Sable Island. “ 1 vas pusted dose men vat ead dem 
ducks, said Jumps, with satisfaction ; " und you vas pusted dem poys 
ven herselluf vas get his stummic stuffed mit dem.” 






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a fair day,” Moline continued. 


GOING TO COUKT 

ERE boys,” said Captain 
Moline, bustling into the 
cabin of the Maskomel 
with an air of great import- 
ance, “ 1 have received a 
message from the king, and 
you are summoned to ap- 
pear at court forthwith.” 
And from a rather shabby 
looking bit of writing paper, 
he read as follows : 

West End Palace, 

Sable Island. 

Captain Moline: Send the 
Melville boys under escort of 
patrol to the palace the first 
fair day. 

(Signed) Dabby, Rex. 

•• We will start to-mor- 
row morning bright and ear- 
ly if there is a prospect of 
“ 1 have already passed the word by 
125 


126 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


patrol up to the midway house, and as you will get dinner there you 
needn't take any grub with you.” 

“ What are you going to wear. Dick?” Jack asked when the cap- 
tain left the cabin, after having delivered his important message. 
The question was a perplexing one. Their wardrobe had not kept 
pace with their other conveniences, and Jack was in grim humor 
when he sprung his problem. By dint of much stitching and patch- 
ing they had managed to keep their garments hanging together, but 
their breeches and upper wear had become composite affairs, the 
additions having been so numerous and varied. 

There’s my hair, to begin with,” Dick replied, entering into the 
spirit of Jack’s question, “ it’s almost long enough to serve for a 
mantle. Come to think of it, I shall not put on anything extra except 
a little of Jumps’ hair oil. for there is so much salt in a fellow’s head 
it makes one feel as if he had been soaking his head in the salt-junk 
barrel.” 

“ Hair oil.” Jack broke in, " have you got any hair oil ?” 

“ Of course — it’s in that black junk-bottle on the companionway 
shelf. Jumps brought it over two or three days ago.” 

“ Well — it that’s it, I have been using it this morning to grease 
my shoes.” 

That’s ail right, Jack — it won’t hurt your shoes; it is seal oil, 
scented with a little oil of pennyroyal that Jumps has been using to 
keep the fleas away.” 

“ Scented ! — I guess not ! It smells like an old cod liver that has 
been baking in the sun for a week. You didn’t put any of it on 
your hair ?” 

“ No, but I guess I’ll use it to-night, the smell will be gone by 
morning. Must have something, for my head feels like a wire brush, 
my hair is so stiff.” Dick’s laugh, however, disproved his words, for 
he was only guying his brother. Jumps’ hair oil might do for the 
giant, but it was altogether too strong for boys, and Dick, after smell- 
ing it, had, as he thought, put it out of sight, where it would continue 
to ripen without hurting the giant’s feelings. 

“ Say, Dick — we must get ourselves into some shape for the palace. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


127 


there are girls up there, you know ; and, as we are, we are enough 
to frighten a crow. In the wreckhouse there are lots of old duds ; 
let’s go over there and see if we can’t find something that will fit us 
and make us look more respectable.” 

Oh, horrors, jack ! Those are dead men’s garments — clothes 
taken from the sailor-bags and sea-chests of men who never got to 
shore alive. I should feel as if I had been robbing a graveyard were 
I to wear any of those clothes.” 

“ Ugh ! I didn’t know that. But what shall we do ? — the life- 
men haven’t got anything that they can lend us. The giant is the 
only one that seems to have an extra pea-jacket, and if either one of 
us were to borrow that we’d look worse than we do in our patches.” 

" Look here. Jack, I’ve got a scheme. Let’s go just as we are.” 

"H’m! I don’t see anything that’s very schemy about that,” 
jack interrupted, with some disappointment. 

"Wait till 1 finish, will you? We’ll go just as we are. They say 
that the king has lots of stuff at the palace end of the island— stuff 
sent on by the government for fitting out persons who have been 
cast upon the island with little or nothing to cover them. If we go 
looking as horrid as we can, perhaps he will have compassion on us, 
and give us a fit that will carry us through the whole winter.” 

" Yes. I see ; that’s a first class scheme. Old Gray Blanket him- 
self wouldn’t mind trying that on if he had the chance.” 

" That blanket coat of his made a fright of him almost as much 
as his solemn old face did, but he wouldn’t want to get rid of it any 
more than he would of his face. He was as proud of that ridiculous 
thing as old Diogenes was of his old tub. And that’s generally the 
way with your dreadfully good people — they’re prouder of their cranky 
notions than sinners are of their fashions.” 

" Are we to take our guns along ?” 

" Oh, goodness, no ! It would be as foolish as lugging a stick of 
timber over there.” 

" Of course. Bingo will go with us?” 

•• Of course not ! If he were to go from this end of the island for 
a few days, the men would feel as though they had been forsaken of 


128 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


God. And I don’t wonder at it, either, for instead of going about 
like the devil, seeking what he may devour. Bingo goes about, day in 
and day out, hunting for a chance to save something or somebody. 
Our Bony is a pretty good fellow, yet he has to be watched to make 
him do just right all the time. There’s a big difference in dogs as 
well as people — Bingo does right all the time without watching — the 
less he’s watched, the better he does. I’d a kingdom rather be like 
Bingo than like Bony.” 

“ Say, old fellow, if you can get any good clothes at the palace, 
you can come back here and preach to the men on Sundays, it 
comes out of you as easy as it does from father himself.” 

“You are making fun of me, now, though you know I’ve said the 
truth,” and Dick lowered at Jack quite savagely, for it often happens 
that when preachers are at their best in speech, they are nearest 
their worst in temper ; the finer the china, the more easily is it 
broken. 

Jack’s reply was; “Yes, I know I’m in fun, but when I’m most 
in fun, you know. I’m sometimes most in earnest. So don’t spoil 
your fine feathers by ruffling them too much.” 

Before the men went into the station for supper, they boarded the 
Maskomet, and, in the biggest words and with the politest manner 
they could muster, congratulated the boys on being summoned to 
court. Then they filed out of the cabin, as they had entered, caps 
in hand, and without the trace of a smile upon their bronzed and 
bearded faces. 

Dick and Jack knew that Darby was the governor of the island, 
and that his authority was absolute. They knew, also, that the men. 
while respecting his authority, sportively revenged themselves under 
his rule by speaking of him, his family and his surroundings in the 
loftiest terms they could invent. And, furthermore, the boys had 
learned that the governor, falling in with the humor of the men. con- 
tributed to their jollity whenever he could by sustaining the mimicry 
of royalty to the best of his ability ; they knew that the summons, so 
formally presented by the captain, and so augustly signed by Darby, 
Rex, was a part of the Sable Island comedy. But how to act — 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


129 


whether in jest or in earnest — when they should meet the chief, was 
what they did not know. 

After supper was cleared at the station, Jumps lumbered into the 
cabin of the Maskomet with the dignity of an elephant. The inside of 
his immense pea-jacket, being the best part of the garment, was worn 
outward. To make himself more courtly still, to the rising stars of 
the Maskomet, he had wound the voluminous folds of a clean pillow 
case around his neck, and formed an enormous bow-knot, which 
spread its wings under his chin like the wings of an albatross. Al- 
though Dick and Jack almost exploded with glee, when they saw how 
he had gotten himself up. Jumps, whose face usually dimpled as 
easily as a child's, maintained the solemnity of an undertaker who 
has fat funeral fees in prospect. 

“ Now, look here, you old impostor,” said Dick, “ quit your non- 
sense, and tell us what we must do when we reach the palace of the 
king. Shall we keep up this tom-foolery, and call the governor king, 
or shall we drop it, and call the king governor?” 

“ Ach ! dot vas nein dom-foolery, put dose same vat she do ven 
he vas mit dot emperor in mein vaderland. Ven she sees dot 
Darby, mein poys, vas do dis,” and Jumps got down upon his pon- 
derous knees, and bent his upper works forward till they almost 
reached the floor. Taking advantage of his lowly position, Dick and 
Jack pounced upon him, tipped him over, sat down upon his ungainly 
carcass, and vowed that they would not let him rise until he was 
ready to act like a sensible giant. Jumps spread himself out as 
comfortably as he could, and continued to lie there, as though he 
were a log of wood. The boys got up and looked down at him in 
helplessness. The giant rose to his knees, and again went through 
his pantomime of saluting royalty, after which, he got upon his feet, 
gravely gave the boys a military salute, and departed, as he came, 
without the faintest shadow of a smile, 

“ I wish Old Gray Blanket were here,” said Jack, “with all of 
his end-of-the-world horrors ; he’d frighten some of this nonsense 
out of the men.” 

“ Guess not,” Dick replied, emphatically. “ Instead of frightening 


130 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


them, he’d make them worse than they are now; they’d hoist Gray 
upon the head of a hogshead, and make him believe that he carried 
the twelve apostles in the pockets of his old blankety coat.” 

At sunrise the next morning, the day being still and clear. Captain 
Moline rode alongside the Maskomet on his black stallion, and 
shouted ; “ Ship ahoy, there ! Its time we were under way for the 

palace.” Whilst he was waiting for a response, the boys having 
seen him coming, had mounted their ponies in the hold, and drove 
out of the side of the Maskomet. and were upon him before he had 
any suspicion of their presence. 

“ Hello, captain ! How did you get here ?” said Jack. 

Get here ! Why. what do you mean ?” 

“ We were off Japan when I went to sleep last night, and didn’t 
expect to see your gig rowing along our quarter in such distant waters. 

I told Dick that if he headed the Maskomet Japan-way we couldn’t 
get back in time for the trip to the palace. But instead of worrying 
about that, he not only put on all sail, but clapped on a double pair 
of side-wheels, and a propeller under the stern besides, and headed 
plum for Kamchatka, saying it didn’t matter where we went, we 
could’t get rid of your hail in the morning.” 

•' Oh, I understand ; you were playing Flying Dutchman again last 
night. But you had better get down to business now, for there is a 
long, tedious ride before you.” 

As they started off on a gallop, the boys saw that the giant and the 
lifemen were marshalled in line upon the upper beach, and that every 
man had his gun with him. There v/as a swinging of caps, a boister- 
ous cheer, and at last, a detonating volley of firearms, which so 
startled Topsy and Turvy and the captain’s pony, that they downed 
heads and plunged away with a speed that made their riders pay more 
attention to what w^s before them than to what was behind. 

The hard, wet beach-line was taken for the journey, and the cap- 
tain, having business at the half-way house, was to be their compan- 
ion for that twelve-mile distance. Every now and then they sighted 
dark patches on the beach, which, on being approached, resolved 
themselves into thousands of seals sunning and disporting themselves 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


13i 


upon the sands. When the sentinel bulls raised the warning cry, the 
whole herd broke into a floundering, grunting stampede for the surf, 
upon the top of which they floated and watched till the intruders were 
out of the way. 

Nature herself was in a jesting mood that morning. Up the island 
the dunes drifted into the air and wavered about liKe plumes of the 
purest white. The western end of the lake floated reversed in mid- 
heaven, yet did not spill a drop of water. The buildings of the West 
End were transformed into castles in the air. Herds of ponies 
scampered about upon the heavenly ceiling, feet upward, with all the 
agility of household flies. Over the sea a full-rigged ship sailed 
bottom upwards, and a great ocean steamer, trailing a long black 
banner of smoke, recklessly imitated her example ; and, as if this 
were not bad enough, a whale appeared between them, bobbing up 
and down upon aerial waves as if he were a big lone flea dancing an 
accompaniment to his solitary thoughts. But what astonished Dick 
and Jack more than anything else, was a gigantic horseman making 
galloping leaps through space with the same disregard of all the laws 
of gravitation. 

" Well, I vum !” jack exclaimed, with an outburst of soft-drink 
profanity, “ this beats the very deuce. Is this the way the king man- 
ages things at this end of the island ? I have read about haunted 
castles and enchanted islands, but this takes the cake from all of 
them. If Darby, Rex, turns us bottom-upward in this style the 
angels will see more patches than they ever saw before.” 

“ Or behind, either,” Dick suggested. " if they are magnified as 
those things are magnified. How often do you have that kind of a 
panorama, captain ?” 

“ Sometimes two or three times a year, and then again there’ll be 
a year pass before they show again. It all depends upon the humor 
the king happens to be in.” 

We have seen something like this at Black Point, but not on so 
large a scale, and I guess your king didn’t have much to do with it 
there,” said Dick. “ Father says that in certain conditions of the 
atmosphere the air becomes like a still pond, in which the trees on 


132 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


the shore show bottom-upward, and he says that the enlargement of 
objects is due to the hazy condition of the air.” 

“ V/ell, you had better not make any such explanation to the king ; 
it might make him jealous.” said the captain, gravely. 

At the half-way house, a small frame structure, occupied by six 
men, who were included in Captain Moline’s staff, they stopped for 
rest and dinner. The men, who were of the same rough and ready 
character as those belonging to the East End, immediately on the 
arrival of the boys, crowded around them and beset them with ques- 
tions about their involuntary voyage to the island. 

Their cook, a colored man, who was formerly a slave in South 
Carolina, and whose face was an ivory black, out of which the whites 
of his eyes and teeth flashed with painful brightness, said to the 
boys; *• Yo’ mos’ done popped inter Paradise, when yo’ run ashore 
on Sable Islan’.” 

" Paradise !” Dick exclaimed. “ If you had said Purgatory, you 
would have hit next door to the mark.” 

“ 1 haint nebber knowd nuffin about Puggertory, cos dere haint no 
sech place; but I done knowd about dis yere place, cos I’m right in 
it, an’ dat’s sutt’nly so.” And, with great earnestness, he went on 
to speak of the abundance of ducks and cranberries, and other re- 
sources and peculiarities of the island. And he declared, that so 
long as the government gave him his clothes and other necessaries, 
and a little money besides — money that he couldn’t spend — and didn’t 
bother him with questions about his business, he would a •• heap 
sight ” rather live on Sable Island, than to live among the barbarians 
of the mainland, where he’d be called nothing but a “ nigger,” and 
be treated as if he had no more soul than a lobster or a clam. He 
had never been called a “nigger” on Sable Island but once, and 
then the offender’s face, having come in contact with his black 
hands, became so nearly the color of his own face, that ever since 
then such words as “ darky ” and “ nigger ” had been left out of the 
Sable Island dictionary. He didn’t object to being called a negro 
any more than an Irishman should object to being called an Irish- 
man, for negro simply meant that when God made up his bundles of 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


133 


humanity, He, for variety’s sake, v/rapped some of them in black 
paper. In fine, Crapo, the colored cook of the half-way house of 
Sable Island, came perilously near saying that he was “ God’s image 
cut in ebony.” To Dick and Jack’s astonishment, the men listened 
to him without dissent or ridicule. Had the men become insensible 
to the ridiculous, or had they unconsciously absorbed the sublimity 
of Burns’ sentiment ? 

For a’ that, and a’ that 
Our toil’s obscure, and a’ that. 

The rank is but the guinea’s stamp. 

The man’s the gowd for a’ that. 

Crapo presently turned from himself and his race, and began to 
talk about the boys’ visit to the palace. “The king’s darters,” he 
said, without a smile," am the beauties of Sable Islan’; their cheeks 
am like garding pinks, their teef like lilies of the valley, their eyes 
like blue-bells, an‘ they wear gownds dat will hurt yo’ eyes. Yo’Il 
have a dreff’l pow’ful time to not look at ’em, seein’ as how they 
am gals an' yo’ is boys, yet ef yo’ looks at ’em. the king’ll cut yo’ 
heads smack off’n yo’ shoulders.” 

“ I’ve been in the Cannibal Islands,” remarked an English sailor, 
“ han’ hits my hopinyun that them king’s darters ’ll eat them boys 
for supper, seein’ as 'ow boy’s meat is so scurse hon Sable Island. 
But their trowsers an’ shirts won’t be wasted; the queen ’ll save 
them rigs to send fur to give to the heathen on the mainland, fur 
she keeps her pockets full o' mission sercieties.” 

“ Yes.” said the youngest man of the crew, “ she’s a regular mis- 
sionary herself, and comes down here two or three times a year 
a-hunting for our sins, and when she can’t find any among us. 
she turns around and tells us how many she keeps at the 
palace for her own private use. It’s my opinion, from what she 
tells about herself, that she isn’t above eating boy’s meat her- 
self, providing it’s baked with onions and served with cranberry 
sauce.” 


134 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


“ But the king won’t allow of any such goings on onless he knows 
it, and has a chance at it hisself, ’ said a third lifennan. 

Ye’ll be the de’il’s ain bairns, gin ye keep this gait ony longer !” 
exclaimed a Scot, whose protesting face betokened the sincerity of 
his reproof. “ Are ye no afraid o’ the lake that burneth wi’ fire an’ 
breemstone, where leears have their portion forever an’ ever?” The 
Caledonian not only objected to the playing of mice, but he was 
equally averse to the capers of kittens in his severely grave catty 
presence. Only two big words can express the truth about him — he 
was constitutionally and conscientiously grave — as grave as the man 
who preached from his coffin. The whole king business, to which the 
men clung with an obstinate love of mirth, was such a thorn in his 
side, that he once went to the governor and solemnly protested 
against the men being countenanced in their merry-making by the 
example of their chief. He said it was rank disrespect for real 
royalty, and bordered on high treason against the English govern- 
ment. 

Right in the face of the Scot’s lurid rebuke of the chaffing men. 
Captain Moline said : “ Well, boys, it's time for you to be on the 

move again, and as 1 don’t dare to go any nearer to royalty than the 
half-way house. I’ll put you in charge of Sangster, who will escort 
you to the next patrol, three miles ahead.” 

" Yes,” observed Sangster, who was the English sailor, “ I’ll see 
that the gull-savages don’t get a chance to pick the meat from their 
bones while they’re hin my charge.” 

As a cold north wind had sprung up, the boys put on their oil- 
suits, which they had brought along with them for emergencies. 
The next relay was a Nova Scotian Frenchman, who had no sooner 
been introduced, than, at a wink from the Englishman, he informed 
the boys that the king and his fam.ily were in the tower of the palace 
watching for their approach through a spyglass. They had some 
dangers to pass yet, but he would prevent the seals from carrying 
them out to sea, and guard them against being carried among the 
dunes by the wild ponies, or to the lake by any of the flocks of ducks 
that were constantly coming and going. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


135 


At the last relay, a stocky man, bearded like a Russian, 
and wearing an old navy cap, a red shirt, and blue trowsers, 
with stripes down the side, tucked into heavy top-boots, drove 
toward them on a shaggy black and gray pony, which was 
hardly high enough to keep his rider’s feet from dragging in 
the sand. 

•• It ees the king,” said the Frenchman, while the rider was yet at 
a distance. 

“What tongue does he speak?” Dick asked, wondering what 
lingo would turn up next, for as yet he had not been informed that 
the life-crews were furnished from as many different nationalities as 
possible, in order that they might have the means of communicating 
with the numerous nationalities represented in the wrecks of the 
island. 

“ Inglese, Spanish, Portuguese and Danish,” the Frenchman re- 
plied, grinning with satisfaction at the perplexity shown by the boys 
as he enumerated the list. 

By this time the king was upon them, and having rolled from his 
pony like a bag of potatoes, he greeted the boys with extended hand 
and smiling face, saying with a bluff, sonorous voice ; “ My name 

is Darby, at your service, and I suppose that the lads down yonder, 
and along the beach, have by this time told you all about the king of 
Sable Island. I am very glad to see you. But why haven’t you re- 
ported yourselves before ? We have looked for you every pleasant 
day since we heard of your arrival. I got out of patience with you. 
and finally concluded that a summons from Rex would fetch you, if 
nothing else would. 

Dick and Jack were immediately at home with the bluff chief of 
the service, and by way of excuse for not venturing on the journey 
before, Dick said ; “We’ll pull off our oil-suits and then you can 
judge for yourself why we haven’t ventured into the presence of 
royalty and girls until summoned.” 

The boys turned round and round before Darby, displaying all the 
patches they carried upon their bodies. And Dick added : “ But if 


136 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


we had known that you wore five patches on your own clothes we 
might have come earlier.” 

“ Five,” repeated Darby, laughing heartily, “ just count again and 
see how much you are out of the way,” and he turned himself about 
to enable the boys to scan him thoroughly. 

“ Nine, as I live !” exclaimed Dick, “ and that’s enough to make 
a ragamuffin feel at home with you, though going into your family 
might put him on pins.” 

“ Oh, all are friends of patches, though we keep a tew unpatched 
clothes that we hang out in the sun and the wind once in a while, 
just for the fun of the thing, you know.” 

The palace was a long, low, red building, which the wind was try- 
ing to turn into a dune by piling the sand against one end of it after 
the fashion of a snowdrift. The life station was close by, together 
with the usual small outbuildings. 

“ Now turn your ponies loose,” said Darby, as soon as they had 
dismounted, “ and let them shift for themselves.” 

“ But won’t they start for home ?” asked Jack. 

"No; they’re like dogs, they stay where their masters 
stay.” 

The queen and her three daughters came down the slope to greet 
the visitors, and all were bare-headed. Mrs. Darby, a light-haired 
woman, with a refined face and a very thin frame, wore a straight- 
up-and-down blue calico dress, which hung about her as it would 
have hung on a broomstick. The girls ranged in age from eight to 
fourteen. Their thick hair was lighter than their mother’s, and 
showed that it kept up an intimate acquaintance with all kinds of 
weather. Their eyes were as blue as the sky, their faces as freckled 
as gulls’ eggs, their forms as round as dumplings, they looked as 
healthy as potatoes, and they seemed to be as full of good spirits as 
the untamed ponies. Their short, gray woolen dresses were cut as 
straight as their mother's calico, and their plump legs, encased in 
stout, white woolen stockings, ended in unmistakable cowhide brogans. 
All three were as free from constraint as the wind itself, and they 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


137 


welcomed Dick and Jack with an ease that was not to be wondered 
at, seeing that they were accustomed to meeting and ministering to 
people from all parts of the world. 

As soon as the greetings were over, Darby said : "There, now, 
count their patches for yourself.” 

Patches abounded on mother and daughters, but the boys were 
not bold enough to count them. 





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THREE WOMENETTES 

HEN vessels ran ashore on 
Sable Island it mattered 
little how valuable their 
cargoes were, for it was 
seldom, indeed, that any- 
thing could be saved for 
either owners or under- 
writers. The saving of 
lives was of such supreme 
importance that prop- 
erty sank into absolute 
insignificance in com- 
parison. When the 
government tender 
made its annual at- 
tempt to effect a land- 
ing on the island for 
the purpose of landing 
necessary supplies or 
removing to the main- 
land such as had been 
saved from the waves. 


it never troubled itself about cargoes, or what was left of them, but 
got the wrecked on board as soon as possible and hastened away at 

139 



140 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


the earliest moment from the perils of the deadly coast. Those, 
therefore, who lived upon the island were at perfect liberty to use 
whatever they saw fit of the material that came on shore. But so 
indifferent had they become to their opportunities, that they saw 
thousands of dollars worth of property beaten to fragments by the 
surf, or buried in the sands of the beaches, without giving it so much 
as a second thought. Yet, first and last, the storms had furnished 
them with the chief conveniences and comforts of their surf-bound 
lives. 

The governor’s house was built almost entirely of the remains of 
wrecked vessels, and nearly all of its furniture and fixings came from 
the jetsam of sea-washed cargoes. Having his wife and his daugh- 
ters— the three womenettes, as he fondly called them — with him. 
Darby was in the habit of picking up whatever he thought would 
minister to their comfort or please their fancy, and hence the super- 
intendent’s cottage was not only unique as a building, but was a sort 
of museum as well, and the girls were proprietors of many things that 
would have excited envy on the mainland. 

As yet we have not given the names of these girls. They vere 
called Alice, Belva and Clarinda, in the order of their birth, their 
mother having begun the naming at the head of the alphabet, 
though she could not have thought of keeping on until she had ex- 
hausted all the letters. If a boy had been born to the house, she, 
doubtless, would have ended the series at once by naming him 
Zenophon, for four is a healthy number with which to close up a 
family line. 

Dick and Jack had been in the palace but a short time, when 
Darby said : “ Now, lads, while the womenettes are getting supper, 

we’ll make a business visit to the house of refuge.” 

On the way to this place, of which the boys had heard much. 
Jack, said, in an aside to Dick: “ I guess your scheme is beginning 
to work.” 

Darby overheard him, and abruptly asked : “ What scheme ?” 

Dick laughingly and frankly told him what had been said on the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


141 


Maskomet about making a virtue of necessity, and using their patches 
to secure the sympathy and favor of the king. 

•• Conspiracies of that kind don't amount to high treason in such 
a kingdom as this,” said Darby, greatly tickled at Dick’s ingenuous 
confession. 

When they entered the refuge, he said : •• Now, tell me what you 
think of this for a Sable Island establishment.” 

The refuge was constructed for the use of the shipwrecked ; it had 
bunks along the walls, and was furnished with two large stoves. 
Here, also, were kept such stores as the government tender suc- 
ceeded in landing, and, besides, there was a miscellaneous collection 
of wrecked material, some of which had been stored so long that it 
was ready to drop in pieces. 

After glancing around the premises with wonder, Dick, in reply to 
Darby’s question, said : “It looks as if somebody had started in 
business here with such poor success that he fled the place to save 
himself from the general ruin. But it would be hard to tell what 
kind of business was uppermost in his mind, whether it was a hotel 
or a shop, or a second-hand store or a museum.” 

" You have about hit it,” laughed the king, “ but I think that there 
is some stuff here that you and your brother will be glad to get,” 
and he began to pull from a shelf a varied assortment of new cloth- 
ing, which the tender had brought for the benefit of destitute wrecked 
people, and for the lifemen, as well. 

" These things may not be just a fit for you,” he went on, “ but 
they are just the thing for comfort, and that’s what we care most 
about in making up our rigs for this place, you know. You’ll be on 
the island all winter, and, while you are about it, you’d better 
lay in all you will need to keep you going till you are ready to 
leave us.” 

“ But,” said Jack, forgetting that these were government supplies, 
“we haven’t any money to pay for these things.” 

“Money,” laughed the governor, boisterously, “ what’s the good 
of money on Sable Island? If you had a million pounds here, what 
could you do with it? And I’m glad there’s one place in the world 


142 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


where you don’t have to keep grabbing for the infernal stuff, or cut- 
ting your fellow beings’ throats, in one shape or another, for the sake 
of being counted rich, and making a show that’s bigger than some- 
body else’s show. You can cram your hand down into your pockets 
as deeply as you please here, and not feel a bit ashamed because 
there is nothing at the bottom. 

“ The king knew that you didn’t come ashore with a furnishing 
store in tow, and he ordered you up here, not only for the sake of 
getting a sight of boys once more, but also for the sake of seeing 
that no Sable Island boys suffer for the want of the things that should 
stand between their skins and the weather.” 

And, seeing that they were still diffident about making selections, 
he went to work himself and laid out two sets of caps for each, one 
for ordinary weather wear and one for the winter, when the ears had 
to be covered ; there were also mufflers to match the winter caps. 
He also furnished them with cardigans and flannels, trousers and 
underwear, a dozen pairs of socks each and two pairs of boots each, 
and mittens and handkerchiefs besides. 

The boys looked on the heap selected for them with such comical 
perplexity, the governor said : “ You see, it’s this way ; when winter 
comes, you might as well be in Jericho as to be at the other end of 
the island so far as communication is concerned, so I am only mak- 
ing sure that you get your supplies now, when you can carry them 
back on your ponies. The clothes 1 have chosen for Jack, though 
designed for a boy, will be found a bit large for him. but the women- 
ettes will be able to reef them down, so that they will manage to 
keep in touch with him. As for the boots, as soon as the weather 
becomes cold, he will need two or three pairs of stockings on at the 
same time, so it’s well they are as large as they are, and your own 
have plenty of room in them for the same reason. But even all this 
will not keep you warm enough for outdoor venture unless you have 
overcoats to stand in when the northers are cutting up their capers 
about the island. Now. I’ll let you into a secret— the secret of a 
conspiracy that’s plotted down there at the midway station- they 
have a lot of sealskins down there, and an Irishman, who is the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


143 


coatmaker of the island, has been making a coat for each of you, 
and will have them ready for you on your return. With those coats 
on, you can stand anything in the shape of cold weather. How did 
he get your measures? Oh, he got them by sending word to 
Jumps, who managed to get somewhere near your size without let- 
ting you know anything about it. I give the secret away, because 
they were not going to let the king know anything about it till you 
were in possession of the coats, and I want them to know that they 
can't keep their conspiracies from Darby, Rex. 

And. by the way, as we shall be in full evening dress for supper, 
suppose you try some of those clothes on here now, and see how 
near they fit. You’ll find short sailor jackets on that lower shelf, 
with black neck-handkerchiefs to match, and while you are dressing. 
I’ll go down to the station to leave some orders, and will call for you 
when 1 come back.” 

Being so tall, the boys found little difficulty in making themselves 
quite contented with the fit of their garments ; there was not as 
much waste space in them as Darby feared. They put on their 
boots with their trousers outside. “ gentleman fashion,” as Jack 
said, and, when, for want of a looking glass, they scanned each 
other, their judgment was— though they didn’t just know what was 
meant by “ evening dress ” — that their evening dress would be good 
enough for the king’s supper table. And this was the judgment of 
Darby himself, when, a few moments later, he dropped In to see how 
the boys fared in their new rigs. 

"Capital!” he exclaimed; "our court party will be a brilliant 
success. We’ll make proclamation that you have imported the 
latest fashions, and that will make the thing go whatever else may 
be wanting. We couldn’t cut much of a figure without clothes, could 
we? It’s a good thing that Adam and Eve were not created on 
Sable Island ; there isn’t so much as a bush they could have skulked 
into, much less leaves big enough to answer for petticoats and 
breeches. If Cain had been born here, his vegetables would have 
made a poorer showing than they did on the land he had, and with 
only seals, ponies, and such wild fowl as we have here. Abel himself 


144 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


might have been at a loss for sacrifices. But come to think of it, 
these mutual disadvantages might have been to their mutual advan- 
tage : there v/ould have been less cause for jealousy, that’s clear, 
and Abel might have lived, and then Cain wouldn’t have been obliged 
to go to the land of Nod and set so many people to asking where he 
got his wife,” 

At this moment a long, shrill whistle was heard, and the king sud- 
denly changed the subject, by saying : “There’s the womenettes 
whistling for the king to go with them to the milking.” 

“MilKing!” exclaimed Dick; “why, I have been told that cows 
couldn’t live on Sable Island.” 

“ Well, you can come with me to the milking and see for your- 
selves.”- 

It was Alice who was whistling for her father, and with as much 
success as if she had a pair of boy’s lips. By her side stood Bell 
and Clari. Dick and Jack walked up the slope toward them a little 
sheepishly, for their new garments made them just a bit self-consci- 
ous, and self-consciousness is the millstone to the neck of ease. 

“ There !” exclaimed Clari, in her blurting innocence, speaking to 
her sisters, “ didn’t 1 tell you that they’d look like young gentlemen as 
soon as they got into better clothes.” 

“ Clarinda Darby.” cried Bell, blushing very red through her 
freckles: I didn’t say that they didn’t look like young gentlemen in 
their patches ; I said it was a pity that such good-looking boys ever 
had to wear patches.” And then, suddenly discovering that she had 
made an unnecessary confession, she blushed worse than ever, but 
recovered quickly when she found what a merry time they were hav- 
ing together. 

“ So the patch question has been up among the girls, too, has it ? 
There, boys, just look at them. It will take considerable addition, 
and multiplication, too. to sum up their patches, won’t it?” And 
Rex whirled Clari round like a top so as to display her patches to 
the best advantage. Escaping from him, she ran like a deer in the 
direction of the dunes, whither the rest of the party followed at a 
more leisurely pace. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


145 


Presently she was heard whistling in a peculiarly cooing way, and a 
moment after, five mares, accompanied by Topsy and Turvy, were 
found around her, pressing quite close upon her in order to share her 
caresses. As soon as the boys’ ponies discovered their masters, 
they came up to them and began to smell them from head to feet, 
as if the new clothes made them doubtful of their identity. 

Meanwhile Darby and his daughters, bending low to the sand, 
began to milk the mares which had answered to Clari’s accustomed 
call. 

Dick and and Jack were breathless with astonishment, and both 
Topsy and Turvy left them, and went up to where their relatives 
stood so contentedly, and, after surveying the milking process for a 
few seconds, snorted their contempt and galloped away among the 
dunes as if afraid they, too, might be subjected to the indignity of 
the operation. 

“Heavens and earth, governor ! What are you doing?” Dick 
exclaimed, blankly, as soon as he recovered his voice. 

“ Milking our cows. Can’t you see what we are doing ?” the king 
replied, chuckling deeply. 

“ But you don’t drink that stuff!” and Jack fairly spat the words 
out of his mouth with the disgust he experienced. 

The girls began to giggle, and the mares they were milking 
turned their heads and looked a mild protest against their un- 
timely levity. 

“ Why not, pray ?” asked the king. “Isn’t it as white as any 
milk you ever saw ? Don’t the Swiss milk their goats ? And don’t 
the Tartars almost live on the milk of their mares, and make kou- 
miss of it for their invalids ? And do you suppose that we are less 
civilized than they, because we happen to live on Sable Island? 
Look at these mares? Are they not as civilized as any cows you 
ever saw ?” 

And then he went on to tell them that, having read of the Tartar 
mares and their milk, he began to make experiments with the Sable 
Island mares, and with such success, that his family had come to 
the conviction that they had a mare’s nest worth having. But do 


146 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


his best, he couldn’t persuade the lifemen to go into the business 
of utilizing the herds for milk and cream, nor would they touch a 
drop of the milk when any of them took a meal at the palace, all 
of which he regarded as a flat fling at the face of Providence. 
They didn’t hesitate to use pony flesh for fresh beef, and he 
thought that in eating their meat and refusing their milk, the 
men were making very fine distinctions between tweedle-de-dee 
and tweedle-de-dum. 

“ You eat horse meat, too !” Jack exclaimed, with horror. 

Why. of course,” said Clari, “if it’s properly cooked. If wc 
lived on ducks all the time, we'd soon begin to quack and grow 
feathers.” 

“ By gum ! I’d as soon think of turning cannibal, as to think of 
eating any of these ponies,” protested Jack, vehemently. 

“ Circumstances alter cases,” said the king, laughing at Jack’s 
earnestness, “but it doesn’t take very much alteration to enable one 
to get reconciled to mare's milk and pony meat, especially when one 
has a good appetite and good common sense.” 

When the milking was done, the mares went to feeding on the 
coarse, tough beach grass with as much zeal and relish as though 
they were up to their knees in clover or timothy. 

“ I hear that Captain Moline has made you captain and mate of 
the Maskomet main-top,” said Darby, as they turned to go back to 
the palace ; “ perhaps you would like to go up into my tower and 
take a look at the great sea-serpent. You’ll find a better glass up 
there than they keep at the other end of the island.” 

By “ the tower,” Darby meant a lofty spar set into a sand knoll 
for observation purposes. Cross pieces of thick planking furnished 
the means of ascent to the crow’s nest, v/hich was made of an im- 
mense brewer’s cask, securely fastened at the top of the spar. The 
entrance was by a manhole in the bottom of the cask. 

Dick and Jack were eager for the ascent, but both stopped to ask 
Darby what he meant by the sea-serpent. First and last^ they had 
heard a great deal about this monster of the ocean, and the tales to 
which they had listened were so improbable and contradictory that 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


\A7 

their doubt as to his existence was much stronger than their faith. 
Now, that the king had spoken in such a serious way, they began to 
think that one had got stranded on the island, and that it was visible 
from the crow’s nest. 

“ Oh. you’ll see him fast enough when you get up there,” said 
Darby, and the boys started off in a hurry, and when in the brewer’s 
cask, immediately untelescoped the glass and began to hunt for the 
monster along the beaches, but in vain. 

” Pshaw!” Dick exclaimed, at last, a light dawning upon him; 
“ the king means that the island itself is the great sea-serpent — and 
a good name it is, too, for such a ship-devouring monster as the 
island is. Besides, it does look like a serpent when you have the 
whole before you as the glass presents it. It’s long, narrow, crooked 
and tapering at both ends, and the black bogs, green beach grass, 
white sand and hummocky dunes, spot it just right for a big snake, 
while that fourteen-mile lake gives a glitter-line along the greater 
part of the back. The white lines of surf on both sides make it look 
as if the whole pesky thing were forging along through the waves at 
tremendous rate. Look for yourself. Jack — and the more you think 
of it the more the island will look like the old father-snake of all the 
serpent tribes. If the snake that tempted Eve was born in such a 
place as this, I don’t wonder at his being such a devil of a fellow.” 

“Oh, don’t go to getting wicked I” exclaimed jack, more than 
half alarmed at Dick’s recklessness. But when he took the glass, 
and allowed his own quick imagination to take up and enlarge upon 
the similarities suggested by the king’s description of the general 
features of the island, as presented to the observer from the king's 
tower, a creeping sensation took possession of him., and he said : 

“ Well, I’ll be darned, if it doesn’t make a fellow feel as though 
he were making a trip to sea on the back of that old serpent, the 
devil.” 

“ Oh, don’t go to getting wicked," Dick remonstrated, repeating 
jack’s rebuke, and imitating his half-scared manner to perfection. 

Whilst jack was trying to defend himself against the imputations 
of his brother, a voice from below hailed : " Masthead, ahoy I Sup- 


148 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


per is waiting, and if we are not there in time to hear the king's 
grace, 'We’ll lose our heads, as well as the grace." 

“ Why, that’s a new voice,’’ said Dick, and then answered : “ We 
are coming.’’ 

Meanwhile, Jack had taken a peep through the manhole at his 
feet, and as he went down on his first step for the descent, he said : 

Why, Dick, there’s a fellow down there who looks as though he had 
just jumped out of a band-box !’’ 

•• My name is Donald McDonald, 1 am from Aberdeen, Scotland, 
and I hold the Queen’s commission as naval surgeon to Sable 
Island,’’ the stranger ran on, as soon as the boys reached the bot- 
tom of the staff, at the same time giving them a grip which almost 
made them groan. “Was out when you arrived, or I should have 
paid my respects before. If you are the sons of the American 
preacher and lecturer, Melville, whom 1 heard lecture in Halifax 
some years ago, it may give you some satisfaction to know that I 
once passed a very pleasant evening with him in that city at the 
house of our mutual friend, the Hon. Joseph Howe.’’ 

“ We are his sons, fast enough,’’ said Dick, not a little awed by 
seeing such a spic-span specimen of a man on Sable Island, and a 
Scot at that, whose words came from his lips with as much precision 
as if they were shot directly from the muzzle of a big dictionary. 

Dr. McDonald was about forty, six feet in height, and almost as 
thin as a lath. His face was cleanly shaven, but his gray eyes and 
high forhead loomed forward from under a heavy shock of crisply 
curly sandy hair. For a wonder, he was very neatly dressed in dark 
tweeds, and wore a dark navy cap to match. 

Jack was so taKen up with the surgeon’s clothes, that the Scot 
laughingly said: You see, lad, that I am the only man on Sable 

Island who goes decently clothed seven days in the week, and the 
reason is, just as people refuse to be converted by ministers who do 
not wear pulpit clothes, so my patients refuse to be cured unless I 
put on clothes that will back up my profession. If 1 went about in 
patches, the men would lose their confidence in my practice, and 
that would be losing half the battle before it was begun. You think 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


149 


1 am joking ? Well, a Joke is the frame to which the door of truth 
is hinged. But, as I said, when I called you, tea is waiting, and if 
we are not at the table when the time comes for serving, we’ll be 
ordered out for execution. 1 suppose that you will think that this is 
a joke also, yet you are sharp enough to see that promptness is the 
door that is hinged to it. If you want to keep on the good side of 
the king, keep a sharp eye on time and its appointments. 

Hurry, boys!” said the doctor, as they entered the house, “ 1 
hear them putting the chairs around the table.” And he almost 
forced them to run across the kitchen, and, opening the door to the 
next room, literally pushed them in advance of himself into the room 
that served for sitting-room and dining-room. 

*• 1 have just saved them by the skin of their teeth, may it please 
your majesty,” said he, without the shadow of a smile. 

“Yes, by the bare skin of their teeth.” responded Darby, Rex, 
grimly. 

Dick and Jack looked around in amazement. Darby sat at the 
head of the table in a close-fitting uniform of dark blue, and he had 
on shirt, collar and cuffs of blameless whiteness and polish. Mrs. 
Darby, seated opposite, at the other end of the table, was gowned in 
a neatly cut black silk with fine lace about her neck and fastened at 
her throat by a brooch, from the center of which gleamed an unmis- 
takable diamond of no small value. The girls were also dressed in 
silks — for silks on Sable Island were not scarce — silks of bright and 
tasty colors, and their hair, neatly dressed and kept back by bright 
silken bands, together with the spotless linen collars they had on, so 
framed theiifc healthy faces as to make them look quite comely. 

While the boys were trying to get their breath, Darby motioned 
Dick to the empty chair at his right, and Jack to the one at his left, 
which gave Dick Alice for his left hand companion, and Bell to Jack 
for his mate, while the doctor took his seat at the right of Mrs. 
Darby, and Clari at the left of her mother. 

When all were seated. Darby bowed his head and said a long 
grace that was as well chosen in its words, as it was devout in its 
spirit. 


150 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


And then, the table was as much of a surprise as the garb of the 
family. A spotless tablecloth, with an ample supply of fine linen 
napery, and china and silver to match, and everything arranged with 
the order and precision of a clock ready to begin operations. 

“ Look here, boys.” said the king, quite gruffly, when they began 
the meal, •• if this dress party is going to make you feel awkward- - 
for the lads were both embarrassed and silent— we’ll turn the whole 
thing back into patch-land again. The womenettes were determined 
to have their own way about this meal, and insisted upon making this 
show in your honor. It isn’t often they get a chance to celebrate 
anything, and when they do, I let them do it, for it keeps us all from 
relapsing into barbarism, you know. Even the doctor, there, always 
likes to have us return once in awhile to mainland style. So just go 
ahead as if we had our patches on and were eating out of tin plates 
and drinking from tin cups.” 

Jack quickly responded to this forcible breaking of the ice, and 
created much merriment by saying to Dick across the table : “ Didn’t 
I tell you that the girls would look quite handsome if they were only 
decently dressed ?” 

“ Yes,” Dick replied; and after a pause and a look at Alice, he 
added, mischievously, imitating her own words and tones : " It’s a 

pity that such good-looking girls should ever wear patches.” 

Darby had been promoted from the captaincy of a revenue cutter 
to the superintendence of the island, and after supper was cleared 
away he began to relate experiences about chasing Yankee smugglers 
from the Nova Scotian coast. 

This was more than jack could stand, and he suddenly broke in 
with a graphic and amusing account of the escape of the You Bet 
and the part that Dick and he took in piloting her out of the clutches 
of the revenue officers. 

•• You young rascals ! And you dare tell this in the presence of two 
of Her Majesty’s subjects and officers !” Darby exclaimed, with well- 
simulated wrath, while at the same time he was laughing up his 
sleeve, and the surgeon was shaking with undisguised mirth. 

When, after an exceedingly pleasant evening, the boys were snugly 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


in bed. Jack suddenly exclaimed : By cracky. Dick! What do you 
think ? Each of us drank two glasses of milk and ate a steak apiece 
at that confounded supper!” 

“ Yes — well -what is there that's so surprising about that,” Dick 
drawled out. sleepily. 

But can’t you see ?” 

“No : it's too dark to see anything.” 

“ Thunder and lightning, Dick ! That milk was -mare’s milk, and 
that steak was pony steak !” 

“ By jiminy, no!” and Dick sat bolt upright to think it over, and 
being quick to draw conclusions, he added : “ Yes, we have been 
drinking mare’s milk and eating pony steak for a certainty, but it’s 
too late to throw them up now.” And he laid down and fell asleep. 


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AMONG THE DUNES 

F THEY can stand It, we can." 

•• What are you driving at 
now, Jack?” asked Dick, 
seeking for a clew to his 
brother’s first waking words. 

•• That milk and meat 
business ; I see it all now ; 
they just kept us talking so 
that we wouldn’t think any- 
thing about what we were 
eating and drinking. Let’s 
not say a word about 
it, but pitch right in 
as if we had been 
brought up on mare’s 
milk and 
0 n horse 
meat.” 

And that 
is what 
they did at 
b r e akfast 
when milk 
and fresh 

meat were passed as a matter of course, and as no comments were 
made upon the trial of their appetite, the boys felt as if they were the 

15.1 



15 ^ 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


victors. They were all the more at home because the patches of 
the family had resumed their reign and the surgeon and themselves 
were again conspicuous for their unbroken garments. 

Heretofore, in addressing one another, the girls had said Master 
Dick and Master Jack, and the boys had said Miss Alice, Miss Bell, 
and Miss Clari, with most exacting formality. But during a conver- 
sation, in which the girls laid plans for an outing among the dunes, 
Clari. forgetting herself, addressed Jack without putting any handle 
to his name, and this produced such a gale of laughter among them 
all that the last vestige of formality was blown away, and thenceforth 
they spoke to one another with all the freedom of brothers and 
sisters. 

•• Before you take the boys among the dunes you must let them 
take a peep into my room,” said the surgeon, as they rose from the 
table, the girls, with their heads full of their plans, and the boys with 
theirs over-running with anticipations of enjoyment. 

But don’t let him dose you with any of his pills and potions,” 
cautioned the king ; “ we have so little sickness here he is constantly 
on the watch for a.chance to doctor somebody. He may attempt to 
make you believe that you are out of sorts in some way, and get a 
dose into you before you are aware of it. Doctors need watching, 
you know. They wear microscopes in their eyes and see things that 
nobody else would dream of seeing unless they were asleep.” 

•• If he gets any medicine down our throats, he’ll be smarter than 
anyone we have ever met yet,” said Jack, who had never taken a 
dose of medicine in his life, and who, like his brother Dick, had 
never known what it was to be sick. 

•• Don’t mind anything his majesty says, for his imagination is so 
vivid, his head often floats him from the ground, and if he were not 
so stout and heavy, he would be blown away with the clouds,” said 
the surgeon, as he led the boys away 

The surgeon had an end room on the ground floor, which he called 
his dispensary, and when the boys reached it, they saw that it was a 
formidable looking affair, with its numerous bottles, boxes and com- 
plete supply of surgical instruments, ranging from a dental outfit up 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


155 


to an elaborate set of amputating tools. And there were enough 
medical books to frighten anyone into believing that he had all the 
ills that flesh is heir to, that is, if he ever had the leisure to meddle 
with their grim pages or to explore their blood-curdling plates and 
illustrations. 

At the threshold, they were greeted by an animated ball of gray 
hair, which the surgeon addresed as Muff, and which, from the barks 
that came from the tangle of fur, gave evidence that it was a dog of 
some kind. The surgeon explained that it was a Scotch terrier, all 
the way from Scotland, and he further declared that Muff was the 
best educated dog on Sable Island. In proof, he put him through a 
succession of tricks that went far to prove his assertions. Besides 
this hairy bundle of life, there was a parrot perched upon a cross- 
piece in the corner, who saluted the boys with, “ Does your mother 
know you are out?” and then immediately began to sing, in a 
hoppity-skip manner ; 

There is na luck about the house, 

There is na luck at a’ 

There is na luck about the house 
When my auld man’s awa’. 

The surgeon accounted for his Scotch tendencies, by saying that 
he was rescued from the cabin of a wrecked Aberdeen clipper ship, 
and that he was as much at home upon Sable Island, as if he were 
upon his native heath. 

A crow — black as the inside of an ink bottle — made his appear- 
ance from under a chair, and. sidling up to the boys, astonished them 
by saying, with a cracked voice, that sent the parrot off into hysterics 
of laughter: “Here’s nuts! Here’s nuts !” 

“ That fellow came from the forecastle of the same ship from 
which the parrot came,” explained the surgeon, “ but his learning 
came from the parrot, to which he has listened so long and so atten- 
tively, that he has become quite an accomplished speaker.” 

“ Here’s nuts!” exclaimed the parrot, in confirmation. 

■' But he has some bad language of his own,” the surgeon contin- 


156 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


ued, " which he must have contracted from his surroundings in the 
forecastle. Someone split his tongue to facilitate his speech, an 
operation which, happily, it is not necessary for humankind to 
undergo.” 

While he was speaking, a squirrel crept up Dick’s leg and dove 
into one of his sailor jacket pockets on an exploring expedition. 

“ I brought him from Halifax with me,” the surgeon explained, 
“and when he wants something in the shape of climbing exercise, I 
let him climb the crow’s nest spar, or up the roof of the palace. 
Though there are no nut trees here, he quite frequently finds nuts in 
my pockets, and that is what he is after now.” And the surgeon 
opened a drawer, and taking an English walnut from the many he 
had there, he dropped it into Dick’s pocket, from which the squirrel 
immediately came with the prize in his mouth, and scampered away, 
while both parrot and crow screamed; “Here’s nuts! Here’s 
nuts!” Nor did they become quiet until they, too, were served 
with a nut each. 

A great tiger-colored cat dozed through all the tumult in a leather- 
bottomed chair, and when Jack went up to stroke it, he suddenly 
drew back in alarm, for, nestled up close to the cat, like a favorite 
kitten, was a venerable gray rat, minus his tail. A rat, and a cat. 
and a rat terrier, in the same room, and in such amicable intimacy, 
was explained by the surgeon, who said : “ I picked the rat up from 

the beach one morning, when he was more dead than alive, for he 
had just been tossed up by the surf, and, thinking that he had endured 
misfortunes enough for one lifetime, I brought him in here and am- 
putated his broken tail. And then, by way of making the lion lie 
down with the lamb, I disciplined Tab, Muff and Bobtail, till their 
natural dispositions yielded to my Christian instructions. Bobtail 
usually passes his nights curled up in Muff’s long hair, and if you 
were to make hostile demonstrations toward Bobtail, figuratively 
speaking, you would soon have Muff into your hair.” 

While thus speaking, the surgeon had taken his violin and tuned 
it up. Pausing in the flow of his words, he took a small wooden 
wand and gave it to the squirrel, which he had named Tommy Tucker, 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


157 


and. the squirrel having hid his nut, received it without demur and 
perched himself on his haunches with a knowing look of expectation. 
Presently the surgeon began to play the “ Grand March in Norma.” 
Muff fell in behind the squirrel; Tab followed; then came Bobtail, 
after whom came Polly, and the crow, whom the surgeon had named 
Nelson. All being in line, and the squirrel erect on his hind feet, 
with his wand held directly before him. the surgeon by a sudden, 
sharp transition, which served as a signal to his performers, 
struck up ; 

" The Campbells are coming, oho, oho !” 

Tommy Tucker, beating time with his wand, gave the step, and 
the whole procession marched around the room, to the music of the 
violin as circumspectly as it they were being reviewed by a major- 
general of the regular army. 

It was an astonishing performance, and when it was over, the 
surgeon said : “ 1 have been at the pains to train these creatures 

for a purpose. There are times when our men get so restless, irri- 
table and almost rebellious, it becomes necessary to distract their 
attention from themselves to something else. When they are at 
their worst, which is generally in winter, I have them come in here, 
where I amuse them with one of my classical performances with these 
animals ; and the show generally has the effect of restoring them to 
good nature. I am thinking of adding to my attractions in the com- 
ing spring by capturing the young of some of the sand-birds and see- 
ing what 1 can do with them by training them from the egg up to the 
civilization the rest of my pets have attained. You see that I manage 
to keep myself busy, whatever others may do, for, in addition to these 
things, and my regular doctor’s work. 1 have to keep a record of the 
weather and atmospherical changes the year round for the use of the 
government.” 

'• And besides all this, you have gone into the egg business,” said 
Dick, looking around the room, which was festooned with long strings 
of egg shells, making a collection of every variety to be found on the 
island in the breeding season. There were eggs not much larger 
than a pea, and others larger than a goose-egg: some were as white 


158 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


as snow, but the vast majority of them were speckled as if they had 
been lying out of doors during a rainstorm of mixed colors. 

" Oh. the egg business has afforded me a great deal of amusement 
and instruction as well,” said the surgeon ; “ and so has the collect- 
ing of the .stuffed specimens of the parent birds I have managed to 
gather.” 

He was interrupted by a vigorous knocking at the door. 

“ How much longer are you going to keep Dick and Jack in that 
menagerie of yours?” asked Clari, as soon as the door was opened. 
■' We are waiting for them.” 

“Oh. I beg your pardon, my lady!” replied the surgeon, with 
a great show of humility. “ I forgot all about their engagement with 
the princesses.” Then turning to boys, he added ; “ Come in this 
evening and bring their ladyships with you, and I’ll put my animal 
friends through all their accomplishments, if for no other purpose than 
to show you how much we can get out of animals when they are 
rightly treated.” 

The girls had already secured Topsy and Turvy, and had them in 
waiting with three other ponies that were to serve as their own 
mount. 

The girls’ ponies were provided with saddles, and, on seeing them, 
Dick said : “ 1 thought that it was against the law of the island for 

anyone to put a saddle on a Sable Island pony. Where did you 
get them ?” 

“The king and the surgeon made them.” replied Alice. “ made 
them for our use, for, of course, anybody else would be scouted if 
they bothered themselves with such things.” 

The saddles were made of sealksin and canvas, and, during the 
long winter evenings, the king and the surgeon had expended so 
much ingenuity upon them, that they were not to be laughed at by 
even a professional saddler. 

The pony Alice rode was called Burns, though he was as black as 
a crow. Not to be outdone. Bell called hers Scott, and Sir Walter, 
though of a questionable brown hue, as if he had been baked in an 
oven like a loaf of bread, had the reputation of being the fastest trot- 


THE SABLE ISLAND GHOST. 



169 



ON SABLE ISLAND 


161 


ter on the island. The spotted mare, ridden by Clari, was called 
Patsy, and on being questioned why such a descent was made in the 
naming. Clari explained by saying : 

I was going to call her McPherson, but the other girls laughed 
at me so much for calling a mare by a man’s name, that I got up- 
pish at them, and called her by the first Irish name I could think of. 
and, though they wanted to call her Effie Dean, I just stuck to Patsy 
till they had to come round to my taste. I think that such names 
as Topsy, Turvy and Patsy are much better names for such creatures 
as these than such toplofty names as Burns and Scott.” And, ap- 
pealing directly to Jack, she asked : " Don’t you?” 

jack gallantly assented, and the union of opinion made them com- 
panions for the most of the time they were out among the dunes. 
“Yes” is the master hyphen in the English language, and if a cat 
could only say it to a dog — say it with some show of sincerity — 
the cat and the dog could walk arm in arm for the rest of their 
natural lives 

The girls wore indescribable jockey caps, vizored with sealskin. 
Their waists were of red flannel, with skirts of blue serge. Topsy 
didn’t like Patsy, for females are rather jealous of one another, and, 
regardless of Jack’s remonstrances, she whisked her own way. The 
spirit of the wind seemed to take possession of the little beast, and 
she scurried along at a speed that soon put her out of sight of the 
others, notwithstanding their strenuous efforts to keep up with her. 
While going at her most headlong rate, she gave a snort and sud- 
denly threw herself back on her haunches, while jack went over her 
head so snugly that he found himself sitting comfortably in the sand, 
still attached to the pony by the bridle, which he held between his 
legs. He was, however, almost as much disturbed as Topsy her- 
self. for a turn at the foot of a dune had brought him face to face 
with a specter which made his blood run so cold that, for a moment, 
he was as much of a fixity as Topsy herself. It was in this plight 
that the others found them, and then there was a merry time of it 
all the way round, 

“ That’s our Sable Island ghost,” said Clari. as soon as she could 


162 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


command her laughter ; and I am glad it was there to bring you 
to your senses.” 

“ But I couldn’t help running away,” Jack protested: “the Old 
Harry himself couldn’t have stopped Topsy, she was so full of mis- 
chief.” 

“ Well. Old Neptune did stop her.” suggested Bell. “ fori suppose 
she got frightened at that figure-head, and that is the reason why you 
sat down there to think about things.” 

That’s what it was, a big figure of Neptune, which once belonged 
to an English ship of that name. The surgeon happened to discover 
it one day after a strong wind had blown the sand from its prostrate 
form, and by dint of much labor he had dug a hole for its feet and 
raised it to an upright position. Sand and weather had bleached the 
figure, that still retained a part of its trident, to a spectral whiteness, 
which in the night would have tried the nerves of the stoutest-hearted 
stranger. No wonder that Topsy. com.ing so unexpectedly upon it, 
considered discretion the better part of valor and surrendered with- 
out taking another step. 

“ Why, jack, we ought to haul that old fellow down to our end of 
the island, and get the king and the surgeon, and all the rest of them 
to come down and marry Maskomet to him. They’d make a good 
match.” And then Dick began to laugh again at the posture in 
which Jack and Topsy were found. 

“ Well, if 1 couldn’t look more like a god than that, I’d go to sea 
again and find a hiding hole somewhere at the bottom, and not 
come here and scare decent folks almost out of their wits.” said 
Jack, beginning to laugh at himself. “ If,” he continued, “ he 
would only take root and grow into some sort of a tree, there’ d be 
some sense in his standing up in the sand there in that ridiculous 
shape.” 

Neptune had lost one ear ; half of the nose was snubbed off ; the 
right eyebrow had disappeared altogether ; both cheeks were fright- 
fully cracked ; a part of the lower lip had been split away, giving an 
expression to that part of the face that was decidedly dissipated, so 
that his godship looked as though he had been on a prolonged spree 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


163 


with some disreputable gods. True, the muscles of the halt nude 
body bulged with a great show of strength, and the one arm that re- 
mained, holding the broken trident with the single prong left, gave a 
semblance of majestic mastery ; but upon the whole, this Neptune 
was not a very suitable god to represent the empire of the ocean. 

*• He did hide himself once, and we thought he had gone for 
good,” Clari began, referring to Jack’s words; “ but he came back 
again, and we were glad of it, too. We should miss him very much 
if we couldn’t pass the compliments with him when we take our rides 
among the dunes.” 

•• What does the girl mean asked Dick, turning to Alice. 

“ There had been a great storm,” said Alice in reply, “ and the 
first time we rode out after its occurrence Neptune had disappeared. 
The next time we came in this direction — three days afterward, there 
he was again as big as ever, only he was facing in an entirely differ- 
ent direction. We galloped home as fast as we could go and told 
everybody that we had seen old Neptune’s ghost, and then the sur- 
geon laughed at us. 

“ He said that the men at the station were making a mystery of 
the disappearance, and he wasn’t going to have any more mysteries 
about Sable Island than he could help. So he took a shovel, and 
believing that the figure-head had got buried in the sand by the 
wind, he went to work and dug until he found him, and then he set 
him up again with his face turned another way, so that he might 
have another view of the sandscape. He didn’t say anything about 
it to any of us, because he didn’t think that any of us were foolish 
enough to make any fuss over his reappearance. 

" Since then the old fellow has tried to crawl underground several 
times, and, having taken a hint from the surgeon, we always dig him 
out again. We should be lonesome without him, and so would the 
small snipe that are in the habit of alighting on him.” 

“ I should think that even a graveyard would be company in such 
a dismal place as this,” said Dick, very pointedly. The scene about 
him was rather depressing. The dunes, with their conical shapes, 
night-cap tops and ragged skirts, patched here and there with spots 


164 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


of vivid vegetation, made them look like a lot of gigantic old women 
from some unknown world gathered on the island for the purpose of 
holding a convention about things in heaven, things on earth and 
things under the earth. 

“ Would you like to see the Sable Island cemetery?” asked Alice, 
rather plaintively, for she didn’t more than half fancy the levity with 
which Dick spoke of the abode of the dead, and, furthermore, she 
thought he would be sobered if he could see, what, to her, was the 
saddest spot she had ever seen or heard of. 

“ Yes, of course ; I have heard of the place, and am quite curious 
about it,” Dick replied, glancing at her face to get some clew to the 
plaintiveness of her tone. 

Taking the lead, Alice led them up a sort of ridge, upon the top of 
which the boys noticed bits of broken plank, which, they were in- 
formed. stood for headstones to faint mounds, under which were the 
remains of wrecked men and the island dead. This spot had been 
used for a burial place as far back as the history of the island could 
be traced. On the outer edge of the ridge, the sand had been blown 
away, exposing several skulls and many human bones, which, from 
having been polished by the action of the shifting sands, glistened in 
the sun with a ghastly glare. 

“Don’t they use coffins when they bury people here?” Dick 
asked. 

“ A few of the dead have been buried in plank boxes — and they 
were people who belonged to the island — but all that have been thrown 
ashore by the surf, were simply wrapped in canvas or buried in their 
clothes, if any were left upon their bodies.” 

She pointed out a number of low mounds, and said that they con- 
tained the remains of women and children thrown upon the island by 
the wreck of an emigrant steamship that went to pieces on one of 
the outer sandspits of the island. When she was asked how it hap- 
pened that they were so thickly covered with the deep green of the 
wild-pea vines, she replied that she and her sisters transplanted the 
vines and Kept the graves as green as they could. The vines had 
kept the winds from blowing the mounds away. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


165 


The thought of being buried in such a place filled the boys with 
horror, and Jack thoughtlessly exclaimed ; “ I should think that the 

very idea of being buried here would make you girls wish to get away 
from the island as soon as possible.” 

Alice was a brave little body, but she shuddered visibly, and 
glanced quickly in the direction of her sisters, and seeing that 
they, too, were quivering with sudden dread, she comfortingly said : 
•• If our spirits lie in the arms of God, it matters little where our 
bodies lie.” 

Let us get away from here !” exclaimed Bell, impulsively, and, 
turning the head of her pony, she started on a gallop, the rest follow- 
ing after her. 

She did not slacken her speed until, after having taken a 
winding course among the dunes and around several crystal-clear 
ponds, that lay like jewels amid the surrounding desolation, 
she led them up a slight eminence, which gave them a full 
view of a beautiful lakelet. Here she dismounted, saying ; “We 
will take our luncheon here.’’ 

" But what about the ponies?” Dick asked. 

" Let them go. of course ; they will go down to the pond, and after 
they have slaked their thirst, they will have a pic-nic of their own 
cropping the grass about the pond. When we want them, our ponies 
will come at our call, and yours will follow.” 

While they were lunching, Dick and Jack, discovering that the 
girls knew a good deal about the island, began to push inquiries, 
for they themselves were becoming more and more interested in 
their surroundings. 

By way of preface to one of Dick’s questions, Alice said; “ Mother 
has been quite a student in her way, and for a number of years was 
a teacher in the public schools of Halifax. She keeps studying even 
now, and for eight months in the year drills us as if we were in a 
regular school. And if any of the men want to learn anything, she 
helps them along all she can, and so does Dr. McDonald, who knows 
a good deal more than mother does, at least that is what mother says. 
Mother believes that children should know all that there is to be 


166 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


learned about the places they live in first of all. She has collected 
all that she could get hold of that would shed light on the history of 
Sable Island. 

“ She has taught us that the Navigator Cabot was the first to sight 
Sable Island — or, at least, the first of whom there is any account. 
He discovered the place a hundred years before the Pilgrim Fathers 
of the States landed upon Plymouth Rock.” 

“ There goes old Plymouth Rock, and the Pilgrim Fathers with 
it, that father has told us so much about,” said Jack, interrupting 
Alice. “ 1 have been taught to believe that they were first in 
everything.” 

“ Not the first to discover the New World,” Dick corrected. “ But 
go on, Alice.” 

“ Well, as 1 was about to say,” Alice continued, smiling at Jack’s 
zeal for the reputation of the Pilgrims, “ Cabot didn’t like the look 
of this place well enough to attempt to land here, but went on till he 
struck Newfoundland. Mother has taught us that the great French- 
man, Baron St. Just, was the first to land on the island, and that he 
came here three hundred years ago and tried to make a settlement 
where we are eating now. That is why this part of the island is 
called the French Gardens ; and the ponies we are using, and those 
that are wild, are the descendents of the ponies St. Just left on the 
island.” 

•• Well, I am glad that he got here before we did ! What 
could we do without the ponies ? If this place was ever a garden, 
it doesn’t look much like one now. It has gone to grass long 
ago.” 

Dick resented Jack’s interruption, and asked him to save his com- 
ments till Alice was through with her account. 

“ There was another French naval commander, the Marquis de la 
Roche, who came here ninety years after St. Just,” Alice resumed ; 
“ he was sent out by Henry IV. of France, with two hundred convict 
prisoners they wanted to get rid of in some way. Eighty of the pris- 
oners were left here. These built huts out of wrecks, clothed them- 
selves mainly in sealskins, and had such an awful time of it that 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


167 


when another vessel was sent to se^ what had become of them there 
were only twelve of them left, and they had so changed that they 
looked and acted more like beasts than human beings. They were 
taken back to France and pardoned, and given a sum of money to 
help them during the remainder of their days.” 

•• Guess they didn’t have very many days left after going through 
all that.” said the incorrigible Jack, making them all laugh, in spite 
of Dick's polite frowns. 

“ Then there are the accounts of the wrecking of a Spanish fleet 
off yonder, that was on its way to conquer Cape Breton. And 
besides, a French fleet, under the command of d’Anville, who 
had orders to drive all English-speaking people out of the colonies 
and to destroy all their homes, lost several ships in the same 
place.” 

“ The bloody old pirate ! served him right !” exclaimed Jack. 

“ Then there is the story of Sir Humphrey Gilbert, who, on re- 
turning from Newfoundland, which he had taken possession of in the 
name of the English crown, lost a part of his fleet in these waters, 
and his own life also, before he got back to England.” 

“ Well, what right had the English to be prowling around in this 
part of the world? Why didn’t they keep their noses at home and 
tend to their own affairs ?” asked Jack, again. 

Oh, get out, lack,” said Dick, contemptuously; “ if it had not 
been for those tough old Englishmen, there would have been no 
Canada, and no United States, either. Besides. England is so small, 
the big boys of the family had to go somewhere to make room for 
themselves. You can’t keep children and grandchildren under one 
roof forever.” 

Jack was silent, and Alice went on to point out where the ocean 
steamer Georgia was wrecked,- and where the French frigate 
L’Africaine went down with all on board, and also where the Delight 
was lost, with one hundred men. 

•• What was this place stuck down here for, so as to be in the way 
of everybody ? The Lord must have made some mi.stake in his 
plans,” commented Jack. 


168 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


“If it had not been here, where would we have been now?” 
asked Dick. 

“Gracious! sure enough.” And Jack rubbed his chin in deep 
thought over the problem. 

“ Father says it is a horrid place,” said Alice, “ but he also says 
that the Island lies right across the gulf stream and splits it into two 
currents, and that the division makes a great difference with the 
temperature of different countries. And so, perhaps, the Lord knew 
what he was about after all. And now, as we have stayed here long 
enough, we will go down to the south beach. Father said he was 
going down there, and we may meet him and accompany him home. 
I’ll ride to the top of that dune and see if he is anywhere in sight.” 

Having discovered a man riding along the south beach, she headed 
the party in that direction, and found the king engaged in a ghastly 
piece of business. He was trying to recover a body from the surf 
with a long body-line which had a heavy lead loading at the end. 
By throwing this loaded end over the body he finally succeeded in 
drawing it to the beach. 

The man was about thirty-five years of age. The garments were 
rich and fashionable. A valuable diamond cluster flashed from the 
scarf, and another diamond — a solitaire — gleamed on the left hand ; 
besides these, there were two heavy gold signet rings, one on the 
left forefinger and one on the right. A few links of a heavy gold 
watch chain hung from the vest. A large roll of American and 
English bank bills were found in the trousers; in an inner pocket 
of the vest there was a flat pocketbook containing a draft on London 
for seven hundred pounds, drawn in favor of Edward Pullman, which 
was the name found written on the inside of the pocketbook. In an- 
other pocket about a dozen gambling chips were discovered. His 
throat was cut almost from ear to ear. 

He had been murdered, but not robbed. Darby’s explanation 
or conjecture may have been the only one that could explain 
the mystery. He said: “Probably the man was a professional 
gambler on one of the ocean steamers. One of his victims may 
have caught him promenading in an obscure part of the upper deck. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


169 


where he could do the deed of revenge and push him overboard 
without being observed. 

All the effects were removed and sealed up to be sent to Halifax 
for identification. After making a minute record of the personal 
appearance of the man, the remains were drawn to the cemetery on 
a flat drag and buried in the sand. 

This repulsive incident made a shocking ending to the merry- 
making of the boys arid girls, and made such an Impression upon 
the boys that it was difficult tor them to banish it from their 
minds. 


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RETURNING TO QUARTERS 



EN days had passed since the ar- 
rival at the palace, yet there had 
been no lack of employment and 
amusement. Although it was 
the girls’ season for studying 
under the instruction of their 
mother, they were allowed to 
devote themselves exclusively 
to the entertainment of their 
visitors. Alice and Bell knew 
how to use a gun, so that, 
besides pony races on the 
beach, rambles among the 
dunes and ponds, hunts for 
shells and sea-moss along the 
shore, there were excursions 
to the lake for ducks, and for 
the wild geese and brant that 
now began to flock to the 
island. 

For evening amusements 
they had “ Blind Man’s Buff.” 
“ The Happy Family of the Dispensary,” and vocal and instrumental 
concerts, with Bell and Clari as prima donnas, the king as soloist, 
Alice and the surgeon as guitar-player and violinist, and the queen 

171 


172 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


and the visitors to act the triple role of chorus, auditors and 
encorists. 

Pleasant hours were also spent at the station with the men, who, 
being mostly sailors that had sailed the seas in many climes, had 
tales to tell that were entertaining if the listener was not too great a 
stickler for the literal truth. The sea is such a roomy thing a naked 
fact would make but a small showing in the vastness, and hence, the 
sailors, with a due regard for proportions, loyally dress their stories 
in the style that becomes the magnitude of their setting. 

Finding that the boys were bent on returning to the Maskomet, 
the men of the station, on the evening preceding their depaVture, gave 
a supper in their honor, and invited the surgeon and the king to be 
present with them. They excluded the other sex on the ground that 
the station mess table could not afford to be exposed to the light of 
female royalty. At the close of the feast, which consisted mainly 
of black coffee, roast duck, and plum-duff — by which is meant boiled 
ship-bread, stuffed with an abundance of raisins, and served with 
molasses for sauce, the king asked Tom Bagley to tell the boys 
how his nose was put out of joint, for that important member of the 
man’s face was so sadly awry that it was a wonder how the owner 
managed to steer straight ahead when his cutwater was curled in an 
almost opposite direction. 

“ Well, if you’ll believe it, it wor this way. you see.” Tom began, 
nothing loth. “ I wos mate o’ the fore-an’ -after Three Brothers, 
which the same was named that way becos three brothers owned her. 
We wos a-layin’ our course for Cuby with a carger o’ lumber, when 
I says to the skipper : ‘ There’s a hurricane a-sneakin’ behind that 

black cloud over yonder.’ 

“ ‘ Don’t I know it ?’ says he, kinder snappy-like. • Take in every 
stitch o’ canvas an’ make everything snug an’ tight.’ which the 
same I did in the turn of a heel, Hows’mever, that didn’t keep no 
hurricane from strikin’ uv us. an’ it hit us so hard an’ suddenly, that 
erfore I could turn my head to leeward, it slewed my nose to port 
an’ laid it flat as a pancake to my cheek. We saved the schooner 
by the skin of our teeth, but, though I’ve worked an’ worked at that 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


17J 


nose to get it back into plum’ agin, it stays as crooked as a ram’s 
horn, an’ that’s all there is uv it.” 

" If you had turned your head the other way after being struck,” 
said the surgeon, •• the hurricane would have blown it straight 
again.” 

“ No, sir,” Tom replied, with a great show of anger, “it 'ud 
a-snaked it clean clear o’ my bow altergether, like a stick wot is 
worked back an’ forth till its back is broken.” 

“ Show the boys your watch, Hal, and tell them how you came by 
it,” said the king, to a man by the name of Harry Trunyon. 

“ There’s the ticker,” said the man. glibly, handing to the boys 
an old, battered, silver time piece, “ but the story connected with it 
is almost worn out, I have been obliged to tell it so often. I was on 
board the ship Manlius, sailing up the Mediterranean, when we was 
beclamed as dead as a last year’s egg. I fixes a shark line and 
chunks over a big hunk of pork for the sharks to look at. Pretty 
soon one on ’em swallers it as tho’ it was chockerlic drops an’ he 
was a seminary gall a-huntin’ fer sun'thin’ sweet, The next thing 
he know’d he was on deck an’ 1 was a-rippin’ into him to see what 
he had for a cargo in the hold. The fust thing I run against was 
that watch, which I slipped into my pocket, sayin’, • it’s mine, be- 
cause I killed the shark.’ The next thing I know’d, I cut out a 
bottle — a reg’Iar champagne bottle — stopple in, and sealed as tight 
as a drum, with the champagne a-peeping out with all the eyes it 
had in its head. 

“ Says the captain, in a hurry. • that’s mine, because 1 run this 
ship,’ and I’ll be blamed to shivereens, if he didn’t take the stuff 
and carry it to the cabin, where he and his mate sucked down every 
drop of it, and he's got the bottle yet. But, seeing as how there is 
no champagne in it, and as how I’ve got the watch yet. I’ve got the 
best of the bargain after all.” 

“ But why didn’t the champagne ferment in the stomach of the 
shark and burst the bottle ?” asked the surgeon, who, being a canny 
Scot of the genuine kind, wanted to know, you know. 

“Why, sir!” exclaimed Hal, with a sniff of contempt, “the water 


174 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


outside of that shark kept him from getting too warm, and the 
champagne was as comfortable as if it was asleep on ice in a wine- 
cooler.” 

"You see. boys,” said the surgeon, " there are some things that 
are past curing ; what is born in the flesh and bred in the bone can- 
not be helped. You might know that those men were not born in 
Scotland, where no man ever tells a lie.” 

" Then, where were you born ?” asked Hal, abruptly. " It sorter 
strikes me that that last remark of yours is as big a whopper as the 
tale that Tom Bagley tells about his nose.” 

“ Which the same I’d make my affidavy to in Scotian’ or any- 
where else,” exclaimed Bagley, indignantly. 

The next morning, the boys started on the return journey, carry- 
ing their bundles of clothes, and a lot of magazines and papers which, 
although they were more than a year old. had been pressed upon 
them by the queen, who had received them from the good people of 
Halifax for the benefit of Sable Island. 

Dick and Jack halted at the midway house for dinner, as they did 
on their way up to the palace, wondering the while whether the king’s 
story about the sealskin coats would prove true or false. 

But as they might have known, they were not to be disappointed 
in the expectations he had raised. One of the men, Matthew Hal- 
lorin, an Irishman, was an old seal-hunter, who had spent several 
seasons hunting seal in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and along the coast 
of Labrador. Besides, after a fashion of his own, he had become 
expert in making sealskin coats, and not only caught seals on Sable 
Island, but also made their skins up into winter coats for the men of 
the island. 

When the boys were about to resume their journey after dinner. 
Matt brought out the promised coats and presented them to Dick 
and Jack, with the request for them to try the tit before they left 
the house. The garments reached nearly to the ground, and were 
furnished with hoods that could be drawn up for the protection of 
the head. 

" They are just splendid !” Dick exclaimed, admiringly and grate^ 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


175 


fully. “ But how are you to get your pay for being at so much 
trouble on our account ?” 

“ An’ is it pay ye’ll be thinkin’ uv !” said Matt, with a series of in- 
describable grimaces and motions. “ Oi’ve tuk me pay for iv’ry 
stitch by thinkin’ uv the cowld they’d kape from ye whin ould winter 
comes tearin’ down the dunes loike a roarin’ lion. Phat would Oi be 
a-doin’ with pay on this haythin islan’, where there’s no more whisky 
than ye’ll be afther findin’ in a well o’ wather? Whin ye’ve nothin’ 
to pay. kape it in yer pockits till somebuddy axes yez for it. Oi’m 
jist splittin’ to think how thim skins'll make yer own skins laugh 
whin the frost tries to get a nip at ye.” 

“ But there is a lot of work in them,” exclaimed Jack. 

‘‘ Ye need niver think o’ that, lad ; Oi’d make a dozen coats for 
ye, if only for the sake o’ seein’ yer white tathe peepin’ from the 
winder under yer nose, an’ a-smilin’ at a sinner as tho’ he wor wan 
o’ the saints o’ mother church.” 

Well, you have got a saint hidden in you somewhere,” jack re- 
plied, earnestly. 

An’ it’s mysilf ’ud loike to look at him if there’s enough o’ him 
to Stan’ opon the tip o’ a blade o’ grass. Oi’ve been lookin’ for that 
same for forty years ; an’ divll uv a wink have I had from him yit. 
Matt Hallorin is a sinner from the crown o’ his fate to the sole o’ 
his head — Oi mane from the fate o’ his head to the head o’ his sole. 
It’s sinners we are, intirely; there’s no denyin’ it, seein’ the praste 
tells us that same. But Oi’m afther thinkin’ there’s a big diff’rence 
betwane ye an’ mysilf ; your sin is like the dirt upon the skin, an’ 
moine’s like maggots in the bones.” 

•• But ye are ane o’ our best men,” said the man. who at the last 
visit of the boys, had reproved the men for making light of royalty 
by calling Darby king. 

*• Ouch : away wid yer, man ! Would ye be afther knockin’ down 
the doctrin’s o’ the church wid the blarney o’ yer tongue ? It’s 
mysilf what knows that St. Pathrick couldn’t drive the snakes an’ 
the toads out o’ me ; an’ if there was a poteen o’ whisky in sight o’ 


176 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


these eyes Father Matthew would have to put a yoke o' oxen to me 
to kape me from drinkin’ it.” 

The boys had twelve miles before them yet, and as the wind was 
rising and a scurry of clouds was thickening across the sky. Hallorin, 
well acquainted with the tricks of Sable Island weather, said : “ It’s 
sorry Oi am to spake the word, but if ye’ll not be stayin’ wid us, ye’d 
better be lavin’, for if the win’ begins to tear alang the beach, it’ll 
raise the sand an’ scrape yer faces that hard ye'll be afther thinkin’ 
that a grin’stane is kissin’ ye.” 

“ Kape yer coats on,” he continued, as they prepared to go, •* but 
if ye mate ony seals on the way, don’t mistake them for cousins an’ 
go to caperin’ in the surf wid ’em. Thim coats wasn’t made to kape 
the wather from getting in around the bottom, ye know.” 

“We will try to keep out of bad company, Mr. Hallorin,” Dick 
responded ; “ but if we could swim as well as the seals we would 
take the water for home without stopping to say good-by.” 

“ God bless ye, an’ Kape ye safe for the mother that’s wapin’ for 
the lost,” said Hallorin, with so much feeling that the boys, finding 
themselves choking up with their own emotions, rode away in silence, 
and it was some time before they ventured to speak to each other. 

“ The mother that is weeping for the lost.” 

It was a word picture of such vivid force that their eyes were 
blinded with the tears they vainly strove to repress. 

After they had gone on some distance, saying nothing. Jack, 
whose feelings against Sable Island were becoming more and more 
hostile, broke out petulantly with : “ Dick, if I were here without 

you, I should be tempted to fling myself into the surf and put an end 
to my stay in this awful place. I am tired of the piping of the sapd 
birds, the squawking of the gulls, the quacking of the ducks, the 
crunching of the sand, the rasping of the wind among the dunes and 
the everlasting roar of the surf. They set my teeth on edge, and 
make me feel gritty and shrill inside and out. I don’t wonder that 
the governor’s voice is so hoarse, and that all the men speak as if 
they had been trying to imitate the wind and surf. Even the ponies 
neigh and whinny as though they had been brought up on a north- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


177 


easier. Do you think that we can stand it here till next summer ?” 

“ Don’t begin to ask such questions as that, Jack,” said Dick, 
resolutely, and rising more erectly on his pony, on which he had been 
slouching down more and more as his spirits sank. “ We have given 
Captain Moline our word that we would fight against homesickness 
with all our might ; if we begin to fail now, what shall we do when 
the winter is here ?” 

“ Sure enough,” Jack responded, readily, straightening himself up, 
without noticing that Dick had just gone through that operation. “ I 
remember our promise to the captain, and our word shall be our bond. 
But that soft-hearted Irishman almost knocked the stuffing out of me.” 

“ And out of me, too,” Dick acknowledged. “ There is one thing 
that we ought to remember with gratitude,” he continued, " these 
island people are as warm-hearted as the day is long, if their voices 
and manners are a bit rough. They couldn’t treat us better if we 
were their own children. I am glad that the people who are wrecked 
here fall into such good hands.” 

“So am I,” Jack responded, heartily, “ but I can’t understand 
what makes them so good when they have neither a meeting-house 
nor a preacher to ding things into them.” 

" But haven’t you noticed that every one of them has his Bible, 
and that he isn’t ashamed to be seen reading it, either? And Dr. 
McDonald says that this habit is worth more to them than all his 
medicines and his books put together.” 

“ Perhaps it’s because they have so few things in the shape of 
meetings and societies that they get more of a chance to know what 
is in the Bible and take more time to act out its spirit.” 

“ V/hy, Jack,” Dick answered, quickly, “ if you swing along in that 
style, you’ll knock the steeple off of every meeting-house in the land, 
and turn every pulpit bottom upward, so that every preacher will be 
turned out to grass whether he likes it or not.” 

“ Oh, I rather guess not. If the Lord wants preachers and 
churches, he’ll have them in spite of anything 1 or anybody else can 
say. Anyway, we know enough about Black Point and Sable Island 
to know that, after all, it’s kind of lonesome and queer to be out of 


178 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


sight of a church steeple and all that sort of thing. But if 1 ever get 
rich, I shall try to make things that I have anything to do with keep 
near enough to preaching to sight it with a telescope.” 

And I’ll be your oartner. if that’s the sort of business you hanker 
after,” said Dick, looking over at Jack with a flush of honest pride. 

“Just look at that flock of gulls whirling around in a circle ahead 
of us!” exclaimed Jack, suddenly. 

“ They have probably found a floater of some kind, and are get- 
ting ready for a good square meal. Let’s pull our hoods over our 
heads and drive right into them,” said Dick, putting Turvy into a 
gallop, which Topsy was quick to copy. 

The feast over which the gulls were whetting their bills and flash- 
ing their eager wings and making such a concourse of most discord- 
ant sounds was a dead devil-fish in an advanced state of decomposi- 
tion. It was probably one of the monsters of the Newfoundland 
coast which, having met its fate in some unknown way, had floated 
about in the currents of the sea until thrown upon Sable Island. Its 
body was nearly as big as a barrel ; its eyes were literally as large as 
saucers, and some of its eight arms were not less than thirty feet in 
length. 

“ Crackee !” exclaimed Jack. “I didn’t know that those horrid 
things ever grew as big as that. Why, the ones we’ve seen at Black 
Point are bits of babies by the side of that fellow. How do we know 
but there are some just as big as this chap around the rocks of Black 
Point ? What should we do if a fellow like that were to take a notion 
to put his arms around us ? I declare I don’t believe I shall ever 
dare to leap into the sea from the rocks again. We shall have to stick 
to the back ponds. Just think of a green, gray and blue spider of that 
size stepping up to us and bagging us as if we were merely flies.” 

“ Gracious, Jack! you make my skin crawl worse than that little 
fellow made it smart — the one, you know, that fastened his suckers 
on me that time 1 jumped into the sea from the end of Darling Rock. 
Of course there are no such giants as this, there ; still we’ll take 
care where we go in swimming after seeing this fellow.” 

“ He looks as ugly as sin— I don’t wonder the coast people and 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


179 


sailors call them devil-fish. What do you suppose that the Lord ever 
made such a looking thing as that for — but 1 don’t believe the Lord 
makes such things ; they must have crept in through the back-door 
somehow.” 

The gulls, disturbed by the boys’ presence, were becoming more 
and more angry, and aggressive as well, and though the sealskin coats 
protected Dick and Jack from their blows, they attacked Topsy and 
Turvy with such ferocity that, without waiting for any hints from their 
riders, they started down the beach with all the speed they could 
muster. A great gray gull, almost as large as an eagle, with seem- 
ingly motionless wings, poised himself upon the wind in such a won- 
drous way that he kept the advance, notwithstanding the galloping of 
the ponies. This gull was followed by a solitary companion, with a 
white body, dark head, barred wings, blue tail and of a size that made 
him seem a mere swallow in comparison with the gray gull. The small 
follower flapped the air in the most frantic manner, and, zig-zagging 
up and down and hither and thither on angular lines of flight, kept up 
a shrill screaming that was as penetrating as the point of a lance. 

•• That little chap is the steam whistle of the big fellow,” said Jack, 
who noticed that the gray gull was as silent as a cloud, “ And, by the 
way, Dick,” he continued, “why is it that we haven’t seen such a 
thing as a singing bird since we came here ?” 

“ How can there be any singing birds where there isn’t a tree nor 
a bush, nor so much as a fence or a stone for them to put their 
feet on.” 

“ Sure enough, I didn’t think of that ; but I’d give more for one of 
our little Black Point singing birds than 1 would for all the gulls on 
Sable Island.” 

“ So would 1. Still, the gulls have furnished us. first and last, 
with lots of good eggs.” 

“ Yes. 1 know. But why ar’n’t gulls good to eat?” 

“ The gray gulls are as good as ducks, and if 1 had my gun with 
me. I’d bag that fellow ahead for our breakfast to-morrow morning.” 

“ Faugh ! Dick. Hasn’t he just been feeding on that rotten devil- 
fish?” 


180 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


“ It’s not what they eat, but how they taste, that does the business. 
The very potatoes we eat are fed on rottenness.” 

Jack did not have time to digest this bit of old news, for it was 
knocked out of his mind by the giant, who was galloping toward them, 
with his feet touching the sand at every lope of his sturdy pony. 
“ There he is !” Jack exclaimed, joyfully, and both Topsy and Turvy. 
in sympathy with his cry, started off at a good swinging gait that 
soon brought their riders and the advancing giant together. 

“ Hurrah !” shouted Jack, in the excess of his spirits. 

“ I vas hurrah dot vay mit myseiluf wen I vas see her cornin’, re- 
sponded the giant, his broad face beaming like a full moon. 

" But how did you know us so far off ?” Dick asked, curiously. 

" 1 vas eggspected him vor days, und she don’t coom yoost as I 
eggspected, Und den I vas get dose glass und look, und look, und 
right ervay it fetch ’em. But mein poysvere vas you get dem gotes 
vat makes her look like bull seals yoost vrom dot sea?” And Jumps 
asked this ‘question with as much apparent innocence as if he had 
not the slightest knowledge or suspicion of the coat conspiracy. 

“ Oh, you old rogue 1” said Dick, •* you knew all about it, and got 
our measures and sent them to that grand old Irishman up to the mid- 
way house.” 

“ Vas dot so ? Veil he vas send me vord to dell him how pig 
she vas, und 1 yoost dook your sizes vrom dot figure vat she makes 
in dot sand ven her vas lay upon his pack and spreads her arms und 
leafes dot mark.” 

The boys remembered their measuring themselves in the sand, 
and laughed heartily at the use the giant had made of their frolic. 

Bingo was away with some of the lifemen, but while the boys were 
eating supper on the Maskomet he came bouncing up the gangway 
with the heftiness of a lion, and finding the cabin door open, rushed 
in with demonstrations of joy that came near upsetting every movable 
thing in the room, not even excepting the boys themselves. 


V. 



sented from the idea that anyone could be a gentleman without the 
aid of good clothes, was not in favor with the station men. 

He came to the island as a castaway from a ship wrecked during 
the preceding winter. In saving the lives of that crew one of the 
lifemen sacrificed his own. Boggs begged to be taken into the sta- 
tion crew in the place of the lost man. His request was granted, 
with the understanding that when the tender visited the island to 
remove the shipwrecked men he might go with them if he so desired. 
When his companions left he remained. 

181 


182 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


For some reason or other he was unpopular with his former ship- 
mates, and became no less so with the men of the station crew. 
He was fearless in exposing himself to the dangers of surf drill, but 
his constant sleep-talking, moroseness, shaking of his head when he 
thought that he was not observed, and violent talking to himself in 
his waking hours, gave the lifemen the impression that he was not 
on the best of terms with his own conscience, and, hence, as a gen- 
eral thing, they had as little to do with him as possible. That his 
education was far superior to theirs became more and more evident 
as time went on, and multiplying indications convinced the men that 
he had been brought up in a family of considerable means, and had 
moved in a wide circle of acquaintances. His natural distaste for 
the life he was obliged to live on the island was so manifest that the 
men wondered why he had elected to remain among them when he 
might have gone away. 

Brown, who was known as the “ tailor” of the station, was the 
only man who maintained anything like intimacy with him. But 
Brown himself looked upon Boggs as a puzzle. 

“ Boggs,” said Brown, one day when the two men were out to- 
gether, “ you are the queerest chap I ever saw. What makes you 
talk so much in your sleep and to yourself in the daytime when you 
are alone ? Did you ever rob a bank or kill anybody ?” 

Livid with rage, Boggs turned upon his innocent and good-natured 
questioner with a volley of oaths in the midst of which he said, with 
a malignant glance : “If you ask me any more questions of that 
kind, or talk of such things to the rest of the men. I’ll kill you as 
sure as there is a God in heaven.” 

Brown was surprised at the outbreak of his companion, but he was 
not a man to be cowed by either threats or violence, and he simply 
said : “Well, Boggs, 1 meant no offense; but I will say now and 
here, without fear or favor, if you are as sore as all that. I’ll keep as 
far from you as the rest of the men are doing,” and he had little to 
do with him from that hour. 

The rest of the crew quickly observed the breach between the men 
and became more suspicious of Boggs than ever. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


183 


In the presence of the boys, Boggs was never profane or obscene ; 
he seemed to covet their intimacy, and from the stores of his wide 
information, and in well chosen language, he gave them much that 
served to interest and benefit them. They knew that he was dis- 
trusted by the men, but, unsuspicious themselves, they attributed his 
reputation for moroseness to dissatisfaction with his island life, and, 
more charitably still, believed that he was suffering the torments of 
homesickness. 

They had asked the giant about him, but that prudent soul re- 
plied : “ Some vas porn dot vay ven she couldn’t help hisselluf . 

und ve vas hafe to let dem stay dot vay ; und some vas get dot vay 
so bad she don’t never get no bedder. Mein poys von’t podder mit 
him. Dere vas hot vater in dot keddle, und you vas keep her vin- 
gers ervay vrom it.” 

But Dick and Jack sympathized with the loneliness of the 
friendless man, and did all they could to cultivate his acquaint- 
ance. Boggs seemed to appreciate their approaches, and the 
more the men avoided him, the more he sought the boys’ 

society. After their return to the Maskomet, he hovered around 
them at every opportunity as if he had something that he was 
ever on the point of saying without having the courage to bring it 
to his lips. 

One day, the boys were on their way to the lake after a 

fresh supply of game ; they had not gone far, when Boggs 

drove around a dune and joined them, saying that he was 

going over to the south beach and would be glad to accom- 
pany them as far as he went. They were not sorry to see him, 
though he at first appeared to be much more burdened and reticent 
than usual. 

Suddenly, while they were listening to the peculiar sound the 
sand, owing to some special conditions of the atmosphere, was mak- 
ing beneath their ponies’ feet, he said ; “ Say, lads, would you like 

to go home ?” 

“ Oh, don’t mention that subject,” said Dick, pained at the ques- 
tion. because he and jack had been fighting against their homesick- 


184 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


ness all the morning. “ The very thought of home is so tantalizing, 
that to keep from getting blue, we have agreed to say as little about 
it as possible.” 

“ But you can get there, if you really have a mind to try, and that, 
too, in less than forty-eight hours.” 

Astonished by his manner, as well as by his words, both Dick and 
Jack instinctively halted their ponies, and Dick, voicing Jack’s sur- 
prise, as well as his own, said : " What can you mean, Mr. Boggs, 

when surely you must know that there is no posstble hope for 
our escaping from this place until the arrival of the tender next 
summer ?” 

‘‘ I’ll tell you exactly what I mean ; I got out one of those old 
charts the other Sunday and made a complete study of the lay 
of this island and of the whole Nova Scotian coast even down to 
your home at Biack Point. And this is what I have to say ; I can 
fix matters so that we can get there within the time 1 have already 
mentioned.” 

“ But you are making sport of us,” Jack exclaimed, impulsively, 
alternating between wistfulness and indignation. 

“ That is the last thing I would do, my lad ; I am dead in earnest. 
The prevailing winds at this time of the year are directly toward the 
southern coast. With the big dory, a compass, the chart, tar- 
paulins, provisions and water, we could, with her sails and rig 
and a favoring wind, make it in from twenty-four to thirty 
hours. Our sealskin coats would keep us from getting cold, and 
there would be little discomfort or danger to fear ” And he 
continued so plausibly and so earnestly that the boys really 
began to think that their imprisonment on the island would soon 
be over. 

“ But would Captain Moline consent?” asked Dick. “ Have you 
talked with him about the plan ?” 

Boggs laughed defiantly, and curtly replied : “ Look here, you 

fellows, 1 am not so green as you and the lifemen take me to be. 
Of course the whole plan must be kept secret ; and, furthermore, we 
must make up our minds to help ourselves to the things we shall 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


185 


need, which we can very easily do any night the wind serves our 
purpose. The chief difficulty will be to get through the first 
lines of surf ; but, from what 1 have heard you say about your deal- 
ings with the surf at home, and from what you accomplished in 
landing here in safety, I am not afraid to trust to your help for 
getting to the open sea, where we can immediately lay our course 
and bowl away. Think what a grand surprise it would be to your 
parents to see you back again after giving you up for lost. Now. 
what do you say ?” 

The devil is not as dead as some people would have us think, 
nor are some of the old experiences of human nature as impos- 
sible to modern life as may be sometimes supposed. To everyone 
there comes a wilderness time of supreme temptation when the stuff 
that is in us breaks into brittle pieces like glass, or maintains its 
strength like elastic steel. The boys were face to face with their 
temptation. 

“ Say !” Dick indignantly exclaimed ; “ I say — if you are really in 
earnest — that you are planning mutiny ” 

“ And that you are a thief — and want us to become thieves with 
you,” Jack interrupted, without measuring his words. 

“ You young cur ! Call me a thief — will you ? Take that for 
your impudence !” and Boggs drew his short, stubby whip and gave 
Jack a blow which cut his right cheek to the bone. 

The Carolinian spirit, which had so long slumbered in the veins 
of the preacher-sire, suddenly awoke in the blood of the sons, and 
before the brutal Boggs could deliver the second blow he had raised 
his whip to give, Dick, covering him with his gun, quietly said : 
“It you strike him again, you cowardly scoundrel, you are a dead 
man.” 

At the same instant the muzzle of Jack’s gun was levelled 
directly at Boggs’ face, and the man seeing his danger stooped 
toward the back of his pony, but only to find that the aim of the boys 
followed his level. 

"For God’s sake, don’t fire, lads!” Boggs cried, thoroughly 
cowed. 


186 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


“ Turn and go back to the station — you are our prisoner,” Dick 
ordered, while both he and Jack still covered him with their aim. 
The boys were so blindly angry that the slightest resistance on the 
man’s part would have insured his death, and another calamity would 
have been added to the world’s sorrows. 

Moline, Brown and the giant were the only men at the station 
when the boys and their prisoner drove up to the door and called for 
the captain to come out. 

The giant seeing that Jack was covered with-blood, and surmising 
from the whole posture of affairs that Boggs had wounded him, 
dragged the man from his horse with a single pull of his stalwart 
hand, and, holding him as if in a vice, hissed into his face the ques- 
tion ; “ Vas you do dot mit dot poy ?” 

Jumps had a temper of his own, and once aroused was not easily 
quieted nor prevented from doing mischief ; and, fearing for Boggs, 
now that he was in Jumps’ grasp, both the captain and Brown went 
to his side, and Moline adroitly changed the drift of his feeling by 
directing him to take Jack into the station house and look after his 
wound. 

•• Oh, the cut is nothing,” said Jack, “but 1 have had a narrow 
escape from being a murderer,” 

“ Yes,” added Dick, •* it was a close shave for both of us. I thank 
God that neither of us fired.” 

•• What do you mean ?” asked the captain, dazed by the boys’ 
words. “ Come into the station and explain yourselves, while Jumps 
attends to Jack’s cheek.” 

Both boys despised tale-telling, and when the captain pressed them 
for an explanation, the most that they would say was that Boggs had 
made them angry, and that it was by the merest chance in the world 
that they had been prevented from killing him. 

” Killing him tor what?” the captain persisted. 

Boggs, thankful for his escape, and humiliated by his position, and, 
more than all. overcome by the magnanimity of the boys, volunteered 
an explanation, and told the whole story, from beginning to end, with 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


187 


a dogged recklessness that placed his own side of the case in the 
worst possible light. 

“The fact is, captain,” he said, at the close, “you and the 
men here are all against me, and turn from me as if 1 were 
a dog. I couldn’t stand it any longer, and determined that if 
I could secure the consent and assistance of the boys, I would 
attempt to escape to the mainland. The risk. I know, was great, 
but nothing as compared with the hell of staying longer on the 
island. I am sorry that I struck Jack — very, very sorry, and 
they would have done right if they had killed me on the spot. 
I wish to God they had, for I am tired — tired of living.” And 
the man bowed his head upon the table, and. hiding his face, broke 
into convulsive sobs. 

Jack, turning from the giant, who was dressing his wound, went 
up to Boggs, and, laying his hand upon his shoulder, said, in a voice 
broken with emotion: “ Oh. Boggs, don’t cry. You didn’t hurt me 
much, after all. I forgive you. and you must forgive me for calling 
you a thief.” 

But Dick’s anger was almost kindled afresh at the sight of Jack's 
face, though he trembled when he remembered how near he came 
to discharging his piece into Boggs’ heart. He was touched by 
Jack’s words, but not subdued by the assailant’s sorrow. 

The rules of the Sable Island service were imperative, the 
power of the officials in emergencies absolute, and Captain Mo- 
line was not a man to lightly forget either fact when discipline was 
concerned. 

After a long pause, he said, sternly : “ It was a cowardly as well 
as a cruel thing to strike the lad such a blow as that, and all the 
more so, because what he said was prompted both by honor and hon- 
esty. It is fortunate for both them and you that they restrained 
themselves, and that their anger confined itself to marching you back 
to the station. 

“ But the assault was the least of your offenses. You would 
have imperiled their lives, as well as your own, by a mad at- 
tempt to escape by means that would only have ended in dis- 


188 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


aster ; and not only so. but you would have robbed the station of one 
of its most necessary boats, as well as of your oath-bound services, 
and, by so doing, might have caused the sacrifice of the lives of 
any crew that may possibly be cast upon the island during the 
winter. But what I have to consider chiefly, is the fact that your 
conduct contemplated actual mutiny against the rules and regu- 
lations of the service. I ought to put you under guard and send 
you up to the governor. If you should be punished according to 
the regulations, you will be confined in the guardhouse till the tender 
comes, and then be sent to the mainland for the final disposal of 
your case. 

•* When you planned this conspiracy, you must have been aware 
of the risks you were running. It does not seem to me reason- 
able to suppose that mere discontentment with your lot was a suf- 
ficiently strong motive to lead you to do what you have done. 

1 am strongly inclined to believe that more powerful motives were 
at the bottom of the case. If, as I suspect, you have some secret 
which you are anxious to conceal, that secret will in all prob- 
ability be discovered before you get through with the authorities at 
Halifax.” 

Lifting a blanched, pleading face to the captain, Boggs said ; 
“ For God’s sake, captain, give me another chance ! I’ll not disap- 
point you. There is a secret at the bottom of my life — a wretched 
secret — which is the blight of my existence. The main reason I 
had for asking to be received into the service here was that I might 
discipline myself, and, by devoting myself to the saving of others, 
retrieve myself from the great mistakes 1 have made. Though I 
have discovered that no man can flee from himself, I have also dis- 
covered that my only hope for the future is to be allowed to remain 
here as I originally proposed. Let me stay, and, on my sacred 
honor. I’ll be a man.” 

The anger melted out of Dick’s heart before the pleadings of the 
penitent, and both he and Jack interceded for Boggs with an earn- 
estness which moved the captain deeply. Nor were they alone in 
their intercessions ; Brown and the giant, for all they had been so 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


189 


hot against Boggs for his assault on Jack, and for the risk he would 
have exposed the boys to in the dory, joined in the plea for the ex- 
ercise of mercy. 

Moline was perplexed ; it was a case in which duty seemed to be 
in irreconcilable opposition to duty, jack virtually decided the case 
by saying: “It was only talk, captain ; Boggs didn’t do a thing, 
you know. If he had been caught doing what he talked about, it 
would have been different." 

“Exactly!” exclaimed Moline; “there was no overt act. and 
that gives me a chance to try him again, which 1 will most gladly 
do, for 1 fully believe that he will keep his promise.” 

Boggs was so grateful, it was decided to keep the whole affair 
from spreading further. V/hen the men asked jack how he had hurt 
his cheek, he turned their question by intimating that the hold of the 
Maskomet had no gas lights, and that the ragged bulkheads were 
not accommodating enough to get out of his way when he went prowl- 
ing around in the dark. 

As the emergency season — the time of stormy weather — was 
drawing on apace, it became time for Boggs, who was signal- 
master, to resume his control of the main-top lookout on the 
Maskomet. Availing themselves of this as an opportunity, the boys 
asked the captain to allow the signal-master to share the cabin with 
them ; there he would be handier to his post, and would also be a 
companion to them. Seeing what an ascendency the boys had 
gained over the man, the captain gladly assented. 

Boggs watched the healing of jack’s face with the greatest solici- 
tude, and was almost inconsolable when he found that a scar would 
remain when the wound was healed. •• That is the way with all our 
evil deeds,” he sadly remarked. “ In spite of all our amendments 
the scars are left behind.” 

But he was a changed man ; so changed, in fact, that the men 
quickly became more intimate with him than ever before, and 
found him so genial and considerate that they readily believed that 
they themselves had been wanting in a proper degree of charity and 
fellowship. 


190 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


All, however, even the boys, as well as the men, remained ignor- 
ant of his history. Seeing that he was doing so well in the present, 
Dick and Jack never felt a desire to make any inquiry that would 
resurrect the past. 

But reticent as he was concerning all that lay behind him, there 
came a time of revelation which had an ending that was as unfore- 
seen as it was startling. 



THE CAROLINA REAPPEARS 

ICK, ahoy!” Jack stood on 
the deck of the Maskomet 
with a dishcloth in one hand 
and a tin pan in the other, he 
being in the act of finishing up 
the clearing away of the break- 
fast dishes, while his brother 
was brooming the cabin floor 
and otherwise putting it in 
order for the day. 

Dick obeyed the hail, and 
hastened out to see what was 
wanted, and retaining his 
broom in hand, he asked ; 
” What is it. Jack ?” 

" There is the tub that we 
have heard father speak of so 
often,” said Jack, pointing to 
a dark, buoyant object that was floating up and down the middle surf. 


" What tub ?” 


191 


192 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


“ The tub that was thrown to the whale.” 

“ What do you mean ?” 

“ I don’t know what I do mean, for 1 never could understand father 
when he talked about that tub. Why should anybody throw a tub at 
a whale ?” 

Dick laughed at his brother’s apparent earnestness, and replied ; 
“When a whale means mischief, and a boat is in danger of being 
attacked by him, the whalemen throw out a cask in the hope that he 
will spend his fury in attacking that, rather than the boat. If I were 
about to row you, and you made me change my mind by turning my 
attention to something trifling, you’d be throwing a tub to the whale. 
But as 1 was attending to my own business 1 don’t see why you have 
flung that tub at me.” 

" Why, Dick, you explain things almost as easily as Old Gray 
Blanket explained the visions of Daniel, and the horses, trumpets, 
vials and the seven thunders of Revelation, only you don’t scare a 
fellow as much as he did, for he always came at a fellow with a 
rousing lick of the bottomless pit. 1 called you. thinking that maybe 
that tub out there would bear looking after. It is coming in. There 
comes the old seventh wave behind it now ; if she takes it in the 
curl of her topknot she’ll fling it up where we can get a look at it ; 
it might be a barrel of sugar, you know.” 

“ If there was ever any sugar in that cask, it has gone into Nep- 
tune’s tea long before this ; sugar casks are no more proof against 
water than they are against boys. But look at that, will you ? The 
old seventh has rolled it in and stood it upon end as handsomely as 
if she were in the dray business this morning — the deceitful old hag 
— she’d as soon keel a ship over as a barrel. Let’s go down and 
see what the cask amounts to.” 

The cask proved to be a water-cask, thick-staved, iron-bound, and 
with two heads as thick and as solid as if never a thought had entered 
into them to crack them. There was not a leak in it, for even the 
bunghole was bunged up as tightly as if the emptiness within were a 
secret to be sacredly concealed from all comers. 

“ It is just what we want,” said Jack, after they had rolled it over 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


193 


and examined it. “ We can saw it in two and make two tignt tubs 
of it. Since our return from the palace with our new clothes our 
washing has increased, and with only one tub between us, when one 
or the other of us feels anyway lazy on washing day, there is 
danger of shirking. With a tub apiece, and a third one to rinse 
things in, each fellow will have to do the plumb-square thing by his 
own duds." 

But Dick rejected the plan as earnestly and quickly as he ignored 
Jack’s insinuations, and replied, with emphasis: “No, sir! That 
cask shall not be put to any such base use as washing — it has had 
enough of that already. Having come to us from— nobody knows 
where — it shall be treated with respect. Though it is empty itself, it 
has put a big idea into my head. We will turn it into a Cinderella 
chariot with a Carolina body, and the Carolina shall get upon her keel 
again and go sailing upon dry land as safe as a pudding in a bag.’’ 

“ A Cinderella chariot with a Carolina body I What in the name 
of old Marm Maskomet are you lunying about now, Dick?’’ 

“ Horseback riding is good enough for common occasions,’’ Dick 
went on, as if Jack had not opened his mouth, “ but we, being the 
chief officers of a frigate of war, should put on a little style once in 
awhile. There is that cask ; suppose we cut holes through the cen- 
ter of its heads. There are the masts of the Carolina leaning up 
against the boathouse ; we cut one of them in two, run the half of it 
throueh the holes, wedge it in solid, and there you have a big wheel 
with its axletree — a wheel that will go over the sand so smoothly as 
not to leave a mark. With the other mast of the Carolina to make 
a center pole of, and plenty of stuff to make the other fixings of, we 
can rig that cask up into a regular cart, and then go over to the south 
beach and saw off the bow of the Carolina and one of her thwarts for 
a seat, and with the cutwater forward, we can mount it on our wheel, 
and have a cart body that will fit the whole thing to a nicety. There, 
you see, is your Cinderella chariot with a Carolina body. 

“ Then there are old sealskins enough in the wreckhouse for us to 
make harnesses out of for Topsy and Titrvy, and, if we want still 
more style, there’s old canvas enough there for us to cut a buggy 


194 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


top out of, so that we can have shelter if we should take a notion to 
go driving when it rains or when the sun is hot.” 

“ By crackee, Dick, your head is bigger than the old Witch of 
Endor! You are a whalin' big fellow! I am glad I threw that tub 
at you, for, instead of smashing it to pieces, you are going to turn it 
into the very thing I have been wishing for. But when the thing is 
done, what will Topsy and Turvy say to it?” 

The “thing” was done — done successfully, and while the boys 
were driving toward the station with what remained of the Carolina 
loaded in the half that was being used as a cart body. Jack said: 
” This is a queer piece of business — this making one half of the 
Carolina carry the other half.” 

“ It is no more than what our bodies are doing every day,” Dick 
replied, and t^e answer so confused Jack that he was silent for sev- 
eral minutes. 

“ That wheel is like a broad-church wheel,” said Dick, looking 
back to see what impression was made upon the sand by the load. 

“ How do you make that out?” Jack asked. 

“It doesn’t leave any ruts.” 

“ But it makes an awful lot of squeakings and rumblings.” 

“ Lots of grease will remedy some of that racket ; we don’t want 
to get rid of all of it, however, for what’s the use of a chariot that 
doesn’t make some noise in the world?” 

When the Cinderella chariot with the Carolina body arrived at the 
station, the men greeted it with cheers and followed it till it drove 
triumphantly through the Maskomet’s side into the hold of the hulk. 
The moment the ponies were released, they kicked up their heels 
and scampered away for the dunes, where, doubtless, they made 
their protests in private against the ruthless invasion of Sable Island 
customs and traditions. 

Bingo snuffed around the new “ contraption,” but, not having head 
enough, at first, to understand it, he raised the hair on his back 
belligerently, scratched the sand with his fore paws contemptuously, 
kicked it behind him defiantly, and, after barking once or twice dis- 
gruntedly, he marched out of the hold, and, throwing himself down 


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ON SABLE ISLAND 


197 


in the open air, vented his dissatisfaction by waging war against his 
own troubles, which, in the shape of fleas, had been aroused into 
sudden activity by the warmth of skin produced by the physical vigor 
of his protests against innovations. 

“Cinderella Carolina!” exclaimed jumps, with pride, “ dot vas 
sound as nice as pretzels und limberger, don’t she ? Und ven mein 
pony Luther don’t hold me up, I gits me into Cinderella Carolina 
und trives up dot peach like mein Emperor in Sharmany.” 

Brown, “ the tailor,” fitted Cinderella Carolina with a canvas bon- 
net, or top. with side flaps that left nothing to be desired as to the 
fashion of her make up, and the boys, who, by means of the patrol 
mail, kept up a lively correspondence with the womenettes at the 
palace, gave a minute and glowing account of the new vehicle, and 
promised that if the little women would visit the Maskomet, they 
should be treated to rides befitting their royal blood. 

The restoration of the Carolina to usefulness opened up a new 
field of employment and amusement to the boys. They made almost 
daily excursions after drift. Bingo, having overcome his prejudice 
against the new-fangled invention that went about on a single wheel 
and carried the half of a boat for a body, and, having discovered that 
the boys’ mission was that of saving things, became their inseparable 
companion. 

It was not until they began this work of picking up stuff for their 
winter fuel, that they noticed the amount and variety of material 
that was cast up by the sea, especially on the south side of the 
island, which was nearest the gulf stream. The employment came 
to have almost as much fascination for them as a game of chance. 

There were boards and shingles, broken slabs and timbers, wrested 
fragments of wrecks and tangled bits of rigging. Some of the ma- 
terial was comparatively fresh and recent, but most of it was covered 
with barnacles that certified how long it had been floating about the 
pathless ocean. Everything that was portable they piled into the 
Cinderella Carolina, and transported it to the Maskomet for fuel. 

Now and then they came across a bit of brushwood, a branch or 
tree, and these they took to the station and stuck into the sand as 


198 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


reminders of the mainland woods. True, they were sorry reminders, 
seeing that none of them retained a vestige of their original foliage, 
but when one is far from home the mewing of a cat will, from the 
effects of association, sometimes sound as sweet as the music of a 
prima donna. 

Occasionally they picked up an apple or an orange that proved to 
be nearly as fresh as if it had just fallen from the native branch. 
One day. to his great delight, jack picked up a hen’s egg, which, 
notwithstanding the tossings of the waves and the violence of the surf, 
had made a safe landing upon the beach. 

“Throw it down. Jack!” Dick cried in alarm ; “ it’s a bad egg 
that floats, and it will be a busted one, too, as soon as it begins to 
feel the warmth of your hands.” 

jack flung it down in such a hurry that it went off with the report 
of a pistol, and the perfume of a — of — of — a bad egg. “ My graci- 
ous, goodness 1” jack growled, as he and Dick ran to save their 
noses, “ I didn’t know that it was loaded." 

That same afternoon Bingo, foraging along the upper beach, some 
distance in advance of the boys, came proudly back, holding a pump- 
kin by the stem ; and that night, having no milk with which to 
attempt a pumpkin pie, they did the next best thing, made a demon’s 
head of it, and illuminating it with a candle in the most approved 
boy-fashion, they placed it on Marm Maskomet’s weather-beaten 
head and retired to the cabin to await results. 

When jumps made his usual evening visit to the boys the fear- 
some thing glared at him so satanically, that, terrified and trembling, 
he rushed into the boys’ room, crying; “You vas git out uv dis 
pooty qvick; der tuyfel is mit der ship’s nose, und she vas go inter 
dot sea and make anudder Flyin’ Tutchman, und you vas never git 
home no more.” 

When the boys, seeing that he was really frightened, explained 
that the visitor was only a pumpkin picked up from the beach, the 
giant collapsed into a long, hollow sigh ; but while they were apolo- 
gizing he filled himself with a fresh breath and burst into a thunder- 
ous roll of yo, ho, hos, which continued so long and violently that 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


J99 


the boys were more alarmed than if he had continued sighing till the 
morning. 

When he ceased his mirth, he mopped the sweat from his brow 
and marched out of the cabin, saying; “ I vas git dot punking vor 
meinselluf, und she vas hafe soom pie mit her right ervay.” 

How it was done, the boys never knew, but the next day they got 
a pie which they ate with as much relish as if it had been a fresh 
shipment from home direct — a ” punkin ” pie of blameless reputa- 
tion, for all its contents had played the “ tuyfel ” with Jumps’ fears. 

One day, the boys found among the drift the framework and be- 
draggled tail of a large kite, which suggested a kiting frolic. With 
a little trouble, the kite was put in good shape and launched into the 
sky with signal success, for its appearance was the signal for one of 
the greatest commotions the island had ever known. The seals 
along the beach plunged into the surf when they saw it capering over 
their heads ; the gulls went into a congress over it ; the ducks rose 
en masse from the lake and sought for safety by alighting in the sea 
at a long distance from the island ; the sand birds crouched under 
bunches of beach grass and shut their bills so tight that not a single 
peep escaped them ; the tame ponies went wild over the antics of 
the kite, and the wild ones galloped among the dunes and neighed 
and snorted with a fury that was unprecedented. The lookout at the 
midway house reported that an albatross had been seen hovering 
over the island and the pious Scot, the one who didn’t like to have 
the "dignity of royalty” travestied, gravely warned his mates that 
disaster impended as a punishment for their levity. The rumors of 
the v/onder grew to such proportions, that by the time they reached 
the palace end of the island, some of the lifemen had it, that an 
angel with a long trumpet had been seen flying through the sky, and, 
consequently, the end of the world was at hand, and there they were 
cooped up on an Island with no means of escape. Surgeon McDon- 
ald, who had such a scientific horror of all mysteries and omens, 
and such a terrier-like faculty for tracing things back to their origin, 
wrote the boys a letter asking them if they had been doing any kiting 
down their way recently ; and when he received their affirmative an- 


200 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


swer, he lectured the life crew in good square words of Scotch plain- 
ness against the folly and evils of superstitions, and laughed at the 
womenettes for allowing the pranks of a pair of boys to set them to 
whispering about flying ghosts. 

Little by little, the various rumors sifted back to the lifemen of 
the eastern end, but with such additions that it was next to impos- 
sible to connect them with the advent of the kite, so that for awhile 
the boys, cowered by what they had heard about uncanny things re- 
ported to be wandering among the dunes, stuck close to their quar- 
ters at night, and held subdued consultations with the giant concern- 
ing the terror that couldn’t be resolved into any such thing as a 
harmless “ punkin ” joke. 

Meanwhile, a big drift had come on shore near the midway house 
which caused a nev/ excitement for awhile ; this was a derelict, a 
schooner which had been abandoned at sea by the crew. The men 
succeeded in boarding it, but found no trace of life save a large 
emaciated white cat, with pink eyes, cropped ears and a hideous 
pug-dog face. The cat was adopted by the men, but its face caused 
such a fresh stock of rumors to start on the island, that the surgeon, 
that zealous conservator of the truth, visited the wonder, and declared 
that the face of the cat, instead of owing its sinister looks to com- 
panionship with evil beings or witches, had derived its ugliness from 
fractured nasal bones, which no one had ever taken the trouble to 
reset. He wanted to adopt the creature into his happy family at the 
palace, but the men said that the cat looked so wise, and there was 
so little wisdom at the midway house, they preferred to keep it. 

After this came a bottle excitement, which, for another while, 
served to keep Sable Island intellects from becoming stagnant. 

In one of the boys’ “ Cinderella Carolina, Topsy Turvy excur- 
sions,” as the men had begun to call them. Jack saw a nose peep- 
ing from the sand, and, on pulling at it, he drew out a ginger-ale 
bottle securely corked, wired and sealed. Curiosity was immedi- 
ately excited by the fact that there was something inside wrapped in 
an oil-silk envelop. When they reached the station,^ the contents 
proved to be a paper signed by three students of Marietta College, 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


201 


Ohio, The substance of the paper was that the bottle had been 
thrown into the Ohio river by the students as an experiment. There 
was a request that if the bottle should be picked up on either the 
Ohio or the Mississippi, it should be reconsigned to the water after 
the finders had affixed their signatures and the date to blank spaces 
left for that purpose. It appeared from the signatures that the bottle 
had been picked up four times before it reached the open waters of 
the Gulf of Mexico. There was also a request that if the bottle 
should be found at sea, or should reach a maritime landing, it should 
be forwarded to the president of Marietta College, with a brief ac- 
count containing the date and circumstances of the recovery of the 
bottle. It had been six years since the first signatures were attached 
to the paper. Where had it been all that time? How long had it 
been on the island? Every man began to speculate on its voyage, 
and nearly every man had a story to tell about sealed bottles com- 
mitted to the sea, and some of the stories were so great that the 
marvel was how they ever got into bottles that were so small. 

The boys, after adding their brief memorandum to the paper, 
sealed the bottle up again, and determined to take it with them to 
the mainland and return it, as directed, to the college whence it 
originally started, 

“ Say, Dick !” exclaimed Jack, quite excitedly. “ What’s to hinder 
us from bottling a paper telling where we are, and setting it afloat?” 

•• Nothing,” Dick replied, " but there are a good many things to 
hinder our message from ever being heard of at home. In the first 
place, things don’t go to sea from here, they come on shore to stay. 
I fancy myself trying to beat the surf with a bottle. It would come 
back to us a good deal quicker than the bad penny that people tell 
us about. In the second place, if it were possible for it to get to 
sea, it might take a notion to voyage around the world or go on a 
hunt for the north pole. And, in the third place— but what’s the 
use of guessing? You might go on till you had as many heads to 
your guessing as father has to some of his sermons. We will con- 
fine our bottle business to getting this one back to Ohio again. 
They say that Ohio men — at least that is what father says— are 


202 


DICK. AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


great thinkers and talkers, and the bottle will give them something 
that’s worth thinking of and talking about.” 

“ And get us into the papers, like enough,” suggested Jack, am- 
bitiously. 

“ Oh. if that is what you are thinking of, I guess our names have 
been in the papers often enough since we have turned up among the 
missing. And now, that we are where we can’t get ourselves into 
any more scrapes, tor awhile, at least, some of the papers have prob- 
ably spoken of us as the best pair of boys that ever went under the 
sod or the sea. You know you never can tell how good some boys 
are until you read it on their tombstones.” 

'• Mercy, Dick ! such talk as that is worse than swearing ; if I felt 
as sarcastic as you seem to feel. I’d say damn or devil right out and 
done with it.” 

“ Sh — belay there. Jack ! or you’ll be swearing before you know it. 
And that is the way things go sometimes — the way bad things are 
clubbed is worse than the bad things themselves. But look here, old 
fellow. I’ve got another trip underway for the Cinderella Carolina.” 

••Trip her out, then, for I’d a good deal rather play than preach 
any time.” 

•• You have heard the men speak about that whale that came 
ashore twelve miles up the south beach. We’ll drive up there to- 
morrow and take a look at it ; they say it’s a whopper. We’ll take 
the axe with us, and perhaps we can chop out some whalebone.” 

•• But we don’t want any whalebone : we don’t wear corsets.” 

•• Well, the wooden squaw at the bow of the Maskomet needs to 
have her figure reefed in a bit, and we might make a pair of corsets 
for her, you know. There is lots of old canvas in the wreckhouse 
that we might use — in fact, while we are about it, we might make 
her a petticoat long enough to cover her legs and keep them out of 
the cold when winter comes on. But, seriously, if we could get 
some whalebone, we might spend the winter evenings making a cane 
for father and some pretty trinkets for the children. The men have 
already been chopping into it, so they tell me.” 

“What for?” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


203 


" Hunting for ambergris.” 

" 1 should think that they’d get enough of that without going to a 
whale for it, when everything in the shape of brass and copper is 
covered with the nasty smelling stuff.” 

“ You are talking about verdigris, and I am talking about amber- 
gris. The one is a nasty, poisonous, worthless nuisance ; the other 
makes one of the best perfumes in the world, and Dr. McDonald told 
me one day at the palace, while speaking of the search of the men, 
which he superintended, that it was also good for fits of all kinds, and 
worth more than five hundred dollars a pound.” 

“ Gracious ! Crackee ! Did they get any?” 

“ No ; it isn’t found in every whale, you know ■; it is found only in 
sick whales, but not in every sick whale ; the one up yonder was 
killed by sickness, the doctor said, but there was no ambergris in it.” 

“Well, I’d be willing to be sick for a day or two for the sake of 
making forty or fifty pounds of ambergris — wouldn’t you ?” 

“ No, sir ! Ambergris is made on the inside of the whale — it is a 
disease of the liver — no, I mean the intestines — as the doctor said — 
and it plays such mischief with the inside that I’d rather not have 
myself turned into an ambergris factory. He says it’s nothing but a 
sort of grayish fat, for all it makes such a fat haul for any one who 
is lucky enough to find it.” 

“ Perhaps t'ne men didn’t look in the right place for it, and there 
may be some there, and if we should find it we might get enough to 
induce father to move away from that horrid old Black Point.” 

" If we get away from here with our lives I shall be thankful 
enough without bothering myself with baggage of any kind. Besides, 
if Dr, McDonald could not find anything, you may depend upon it 
we can’t ; that is, nothing of value.” 

They made the trip to the whale, which they found in such an ad- 
vanced state of decomposition that jack held to his nose and wished 
that he had a pair of corks to stop it up altogether. “ Thunder, 
Dick !” he exclaimed, “ I’d as soon think of bathing in codliver oil 
for a good scent as to think of digging into that whale for anything 
that smells good. But it’s a ripper of a fish.” 


204 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


“ Sixty-nine feet long, the surgeon said ; and he measured it with 
a tape line. It’s a spermaceti whale, you know. They said there 
was a pile of blubber on it when it came ashore ; if the gulls keep 
on picking at it, there’ll soon be a skeleton there that I shouldn’t 
like to hang in any closet I owned.” 

•• Tell you what, Dick, if the thing were clean enough inside we 
would move into it for a few days just for the sake of proving that 
one can live in a whale.” 

“ One! Why, there is room enough in that fellow for Jonah and 
all the prophets and their grandchildren and a prayer-meeting be- 
sides. If Noah had been sharp enough, he might have saved him- 
self the trouble of building an ark, by scooping out the insides of one 
of these fellows and making room for the other creatures that were 
to be saved from the flood.” 

“A fish of that size must have an awful time when it gets sick — 
there is so much of it for the pains to go through. If the surgeon 
undertook to doctor a patient of that kind, he’d have to give about 
one hundred gallons to the dose, and his pills would have to be ten 
or twelve feet in diameter ; and if he wanted to apply a plaster to the 
back, he would have to buy sticking plaster by the acre. But let's 
get out of this, Dick, it’s making me sick — sick at my stomach — 
and will lay me out completely if we stay here much longer. I 
don’t want the lifemen to come here and go to hunting for amber- 
gris in me ” 

“ But, the whalebone: let’s get some of that before we go.” 

They went to the cavernous jaws, which were about half opened, 
but, after taking a peep within, and taking one sniff of the powerful 
odor that prevailed, they abandoned their purpose and turned their 
ponies’ heads in the direction of the station again, loading up with 
small driftwood as they went. 



THE WINTER 
OP THEIR DISCONTENT 

HE boys had just made a 
breakfast of ship biscuit, 
salt junk and black cof- 
fee. Jack was in a growl- 
ing mood, because the 
flesh pots were growing 
more and more limited 
in their supplies. Novem- 
ber had come, and with 
it came many changes in 
the sources of their sup- 
ers plies. “ What,” he asked 

of Dick. “ are we going to do for broiled pipers, stewed plovers 
and pied curlews now ? A few days ago the sand-birds whistled 


205 



206 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


among the dunes all the day long, and now there isn’t so much as a 
feather of them to be seen. What has become of them ?” 

“Why, don’t you remember how suddenly they used to leave us 
at Black Point?” Dick replied, somewhat at sea himself as to the 
future of their table. “ It is a mysterious piece of business. Now 
you see them and now you don’t. How do they know when to go. 
and how is it that they all go together, as if the whole thing were 
settled in a public meeting, and they had received orders to go with- 
out stopping to bid anybody good-by ? By this time some of them 
have taken up new quarters in the Southern States, some in the 
West Indies, some in other islands of the sea, and more than likely 
some of them are now courting and piping along the shores of 
Africa.” 

“ But winter is just the time that we shall need them most, and 1 
think it’s real mean for them to leave us at this time of the year.” 
Like some other people of larger growth. Jack was inclined to judge 
of the arrangements of Nature by the cravings of his appetite — and 
it is fortunate for the world in general that the stomachs of one place 
can’t, by their selfishness, rob the stomachs of other places of their 
share of the good things that Nature, with an impartial hand, dis- 
tributes over the face of creation. 

“ I guess that it is all right as it is.” said Dick, with a kind of dis- 
contented submission to the inevitable, “ but we shall miss them 
awfully — they made such splendid eating.” 

The ducks and wild geese lingered a little later, and the gulls, the 
only useless ones among them all. were the very last to go. When 
they went, the precise moment of their departure was unobserved 
and unknown. Keen eyes, however, if they had watched closely, 
could have discovered signs days in advance of the pending flight 
and migration of the winged multitudes. The fowl were as noisy 
and talkative as members of congress just before the close of a ses- 
sion. There were gatherings and marshallings by tribes and princi- 
palities and powers in heavenly places — marshallings by families 
from parents and children back and up to all the great-great- great- 
great-grandfathers and grandmothers and first-second-third — thirtieth 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


207 


cousin of the generation, and the short flights they made, and the 
violent noises they emitted, while poised in the sky, were doubtless 
all preliminary to the sudden final flight which, to the boys, seemed 
to be so unmannerly and mysterious. 

The absence of the winged hosts made Sable Island appear more 
lonely than ever, and the surf came all the more dismally in because 
there was not so much as a tiny peeper to nod his head, shake his 
straw-like legs and open his nipper-like beak for the sharp notes 
which, all along, had bid defiance to the sullen roar of the surf. 

The guns were of no further use ; their detonations ceased to 
echo among the dunes, and the boys hung them in their cabin and 
abandoned them to the silence of their thoughts And it is well 
they did, for Heaven knows that during the time they had been used 
they had made noise enough to satisfy even the cracker-loving ear of 
a genuine Chinaman. 

True, the seals remained, and in great numbers held their daily 
assemblages and pow-wows up and down the beaches, but, although 
the boys were willing to wear the sealskin coats, which were now so 
comfortable, nothing could induce them to point a gun at a seal ; 
they had watched them so much and so closely, and had discovered 
that some of their antics were so grotesquely human, that shooting 
at them would have seemed like shooting into a band of unsuspect- 
ing children. The seals were company, and they were treated ac- 
cordingly. Even Bingo watched them with paternal interest, and the 
giant had so many tales to tell about their peculiar ways that Dick 
and Jack began to think that seals were distant relatives of Adam 
and Eve, and that they had made such a constant use of skins for 
garments that they became a part of themselves, thus saving them 
the necessity of making their toilets by robbing other creatures of 
their clothes. 

Their partiality for seals was one day much increased by an exhi- 
bition that the giant gave. Finding that the boys were getting rather 
low-spirited, jumps, who could play the clarinet with more than 
ordinary skill, after playing for them one afternoon, when they had 


208 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


been moping in the cabin, said: “ If you vas follow me, she vas 
show you vat her don’t never see pefore.” 

Taking his instrument with him, he led them slowly along the 
upper beach in the direction of an army of seals that laid just 
far enough up the beach to allow the spent surf to play among 
their tails. 

•• Now, you vas stay pehint me, und den she vas see vat dem mer- 
maids do?” Playing plaintively on his clarinet, while they stood 
perfectly still, the music immediately caused the seals to scramble 
over one another in their haste to get nearer to the source of the 
sounds with which they seemed to be fascinated. As the giant 
stood there facing the seals, puffing his cheeks and keeping his eyes 
steadily upon his listeners, he might have been taken for the god 
Pan playing snatches from the music of the spheres for the benefit 
of both animate and inanimate creation. The boys looked upon him 
with a feeling amounting to awe, and, remembering some of the 
stories they had read about the wizards of the Black Forest of Ger- 
many. they began to think that one of them had come to Sable 
Island to practice his pranks amid the sandy solitudes of that forbid- 
ding place. And their impressions were deepened when they noticed 
that a herd of wild ponies had mounted a dune not far away, where 
they, too, intently listened to the pipings of the giant. 

When Jumps ceased playing, there were so many signs of protest 
among the seals that their gruntings and movement of flippers 
amounted to a positive encore, and the giant resumed his music 
and puffed his cheeks till both his wind and patience were ex- 
hausted. 

The giant stopped, and, addressing the seals in his big voice, said : 
••She don’t hafe no more. music right ervay dis time; nodt till I 
cooms anudder tay mit some more vind in dot chest.” 

Thereupon the seals broke for the surf, and the ponies for the 
dunes, and disappeared as if by magic. This part of the perform- 
ance was so indescribably ludicrous, that Jack, after laughing at them 
heartily, said : •• Why, Jumps, what made them go off in such a 

hurry?” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


209 


“ Yo, ho, ho!” laughed the giant, “ She vas dinks dot you vas 
gonter dake up a gollection vor mein bay. Dot music vas dickle her 
ears, put nodt her bocketpook, don’t it?” 

•* How did you find out that the seals loved music ?” Dick asked. 

Veil, dot vas dis vay ; Rooty soon ven I vas get in dis place 1 
veels like dot chiggens vat don’t hafe no hen vor a mudder. Und I 
dakes mein bipe und mein glarinet und goes down mit der peach, 
und 1 smokes und smokes dill I don’t vant to smoke some more. 
Und I looks over dot sea dill mein eyes vas vet as dot surf, cos I vas 
hafe nobuddy und noddins to lofe him. Und pooty soon I pegins to 
blay dot music yoost as I vas veeling, und, py Moses I vat you 
dinks?” 

“ I’m sure I couldn’t guess for an age,” said Jack, whose eyelids 
were trying their best to keep decently dry, 

“Veil, vile 1 vas blayin’, dose gray hets mit dose plack eyes bob 
up in dot surf und look so soft I vas sure she vas mein frents ; und I 
vas blayed some more right ervay, und dem seal coom gloser — und 
gloser — und gloser some more, und I blayed — und blayed — und 
blayed some more dill I vas hafe no bret left in mein pody. Und dey 
vas vait so long vor me, I vas blayed und blayed some more, und 
den dey vas coom so glose I vas dink dot dey vas dake me unter dot 
sea mit dem, und I runs as if der tuyfel vas git me, Und ven I 
tells dot captin und dose men, vat you dink ? He say dot dem seals 
vas all Tutchmen, und dot vas vy her vants me to go lif mit dem. 
Und den I vas madt, und dey don’t never know ven I vas blay some 
more vor dem seals und ponies.” 

Dear old Jumps! His spirit was so kindly he would caress a fly 
if it were big enough to bear his touch, and allow a mosquito to feast 
upon his hand undisturbed if he happened to be taken with the fancy 
that the bill-swinger was enjoying him, self while puncturing the giant. 

When his lumbering step was heard approaching the cabin door 
the boys opened to him with a welcome that was as demonstrative 
as if he had but just returned from a long visit to his native Ger- 
many ? The cabin stove was a great warmer as it stood to its duties 
and did its best to keep the boys from the intrusion of the cold, but 


210 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


it was not to be compared to the giant, for the caloric of his ample 
heart banished chills which are far harder to endure than any that 
come from the north pole. Fortunate, indeed, was it for them that 
they had such a companion, for now that the Cinderella Carolina 
was in her dock— or rather coach house — and now that Topsy and 
Turvy were no longer made use of for distant expeditions, and 
now that the great Bernard was absent the greater part of the time 
hunting for opportunities to save any living thing that stood in 
need of aid, the tide of amusement — outdoor amusement — was at 
low-water mark. 

Boggs had gone back to the station. The emergency season was 
on. The high winds, drifting snowstorms and incessant watchings 
made it necessary for all the men to keep in close and immediate 
touch with one another, and with the duties that multiplied upon their 
hands. Besides, with the coming of the winter, the unfortunate man 
became almost intolerably morose and irritable, so that, as he him- 
self pathetically said, it was better for the boys that he should return 
to his usual quarters, where the winter discipline enforced by the 
captain’s authority, and made all-powerful by the ready and habitual 
conformity of the men, would serve to keep his own growing ugliness 
in wholesome check. 

During the earlier part of the season, when time hung heavily upon 
the men, Brown, •* the tailor,” who was fertile in expedients for 
amusement, had rigged a rough turning lathe and had taught the boys 
how to use it. 

Jumps, always on the alert for the boys’ amusement, proposed that 
they should use the turning lathe and turn out a set of nine-pins and 
balls, and fix up a bowling alley in the hold of the Maskomet. There 
were pieces of yardarms and spars that could be turned into balls 
and pins, and plenty of loose plank lying round that could be utilized 
for a starting place, runway and homing end. The sand in the hold 
was as level as a floor, and all they had to do was to put the plank 
upon the sand. The necessary light could be obtained by cutting a 
few openings in the deck overhead. The giant knew all about the 
game, and promised to teach the boys all he knew. They 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


21 I 

took up the project with enthusiasm, and were soon ready for 
the game. 

Topsy and Turvy were at first restive at the idea of having such a 
stir in their quarters, and when the pins were set up for the first 
time, and the ball went thundering on toward the battle field, they 
turned the hold into a circus ring and galloped around the sand at 
the top of their speed, yet disdained to flee through the openings to 
the outside beach. In a few minutes they began to watch the game, 
and in a short time the motion of the balls, together with the good 
spirits of the boys, made them as playful as a pair of puppy dogs or 
kittens, and it was with difficulty their intrusive noses could be kept 
from toppling over the nine-pins without the aid of balls. 

Jack enjoyed the game so much, and saw so many pleasant hours 
standing up there in the nine-pins and rolled up in the balls, that he 
had an acute attack of conscience, as persons sometimes will when 
they enjoy things keenly, and he said to Dick : “ What would father 

say if he knew that we were playing nine-pins and had a bowling 
alley of our own ?” 

“Say!” Dick exclaimed, in amazement, “what in the name of 
common sense do you suppose he would say?” 

“ Well, he’s a preacher, you know, and preachers are generally 
down on this sort of thing.” 

“ To be sure he’s a preacher, but he’s no fool-preacher, and that 
you may depend upon. Hasn’t he played sledge-hammer games 
with us, and quoits by the hour together ? Why, when we tell him 
about jumps setting us on to this thing, he’ll bless him with all his 
heart, and pray for him more earnestly than he could ever pray for 
that old nose-whining Gray Blanket, who made such a fuss about 
our wickedness when he saw us playing checkers the last evening he 
was at our house. Didn’t father just laugh at him, and tell him that 
he was altogether too good to have anything to do with boys, and 
that the sooner he went to some place where the boys cease from 
troubling and the girls never laugh, the better it would be for him ?” 

“And he said, besides, that he wouldn’t want to go with him, 
however,” and Jack recalled the remark with so much satisfaction 


212 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


that his conscience laid back in its easy chair and chuckled itself 
into a good long snooze. At least, it didn’t trouble jack any more 
about nine-pins. 

The bowling alley was resorted to by the men whenever they got 
a chance to play, and it was a source of great amusement to them. 
It was a rather cold place for a game, yet, by kindling a small fire 
on the sand, they kept their hands thawed out, while the general ex- 
ercise of the rest of the body gave them such a healthful glow that 
they became entirely indifferent to the frosty air. 

The long, dismal evenings had their backs broken by the abundant 
heat of the stove, which was kept well fed by the drift that the Cinder- 
ella Carolina had providently brought into the hold for just such oc- 
casions. Then there was the giant’s clarinet, which the boys never 
got tired of listening to, though they often wondered how it managed 
to pour out such a stream of music without getting dry or weary. 
Besides, they had a copy of “The Heart of Midlothian,” which 
lumps insisted they should read to him from beginning to end, but, 
what was stranger still, there was a copy of Thomson’s “ Seasons” 
and “The Castle of Indolence,” which they had brought from the 
palace with them, and, happening to dip into it one night when the 
giant was present, he became so excited over it and so infatuated 
with it, that he demanded more of “ dot boetry ” every time he en- 
tered the cabin. The vivid descriptions of the seasons and the 
kingdom of Nature, and of the experiences of birds, animals and 
human beings, opened so many new worlds to the giant’s simple but 
appreciative mind, that he would listen by the hour as jack and Dick 
took turns in reading to him. 

“ If 1 vas blay all dot on her glarinet, her vas pe so happy as Mr. 
Domson herselluf. Ach ! Mr. Domson vas a plgger glarinet dan 1 
vas ever see dill I gits to Himmel.” And then he threw back his 
head, closed his eyes and framed huge pictures of the scenes and 
things the boys had been reading about, for as the smallest pool in 
the muddy roadway can reflect the grandest things of cloudland and 
the sky, so his mind reflected what he had listened to. And that is 
what our minds are for, not for the stirring up of the muddy things 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


213 


that are within us, but for the reflection of the great things that are 
above us. 

Although communication with the other end of the island was be- 
coming more and more difficult, occasional letters continued to come 
from the princesses, and answers to them were such important af- 
fairs, that the compositions, spread upon and folded up in the long, yel- 
low government sheets, and written with gull quills dipped in cranberry 
ink, and sealed with pitch taken from the seams of the Maskomet, 
afforded them many hours of pleasant employment during the other- 
wise unoccupied hours of the day and evening. 

Late one afternoon, the boys were taking a gallop uo the beach in 
the face of a cutting blast that almost scoured their noses off, it was 
so heavily loaded with the flying sand, and that, too, notwithstanding 
the hoods of their coats, which they had drawn as closely over their 
faces as possible. Away in the distance, they saw a figure approach- 
ing, which immediately set them to wondering who it could be. 
When they met him, it was impossible to identify him, he was so 
completely concealed by his immense wrappings, but the moment he 
spoke, they recognized the voice of Surgeon McDonald. 

“ Here’s nuts !” exclaimed Jack, joyfully, imitating the surgeon’s 
parrot. 

“ But how in the name of Tommy Tucker, and all the rest of the 
happy family, did you manage to get down here with enough of you 
left to speak with ?” asked Dick, no less joyfully ; “ this sandstorm 
is enough to scour the skin and flesh from the bones of the toughest 
pony on the island, not to say anything about a hum.an being.” 

“You forget that the wind is in my back, boys, and that I’m 
wrapped up so tightly that the wind had as hard work to identify me 
as you did. 1 judge that you are both in good health, or you would 
not venture to face such a blast as this. Those hoods throw your 
faces into such deep shadows that I am not exactly prepared to 
pronounce upon your color, but from the ring of your voices I 
think it is safe to say that you are in no need of any of my 
medicines.” 

“ We are so glad to see you, doctor, that we are willing to take 


214 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


all the medicine you have got, though we are no more in need of it 
than the old Maskomet herself,” said Dick, as both ponies wheeled 
about to follow him to the station. 

“You must be our company,” Jack eagerly insisted, when they 
began to sail before the wind. 

“ Oh, of course,” the surgeon replied ; “ it is a part of my duty to 
look after the shipwrecked, you know, and as you are the only ship- 
wrecked ones on the island, and as the king and all his household 
were so anxious to know all about you, I came down to take a look 

at you myself ; and the best way to do that is to stay by you as long 

as I am here, which will be for a week or more.” 

“ Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah !” shouted Jack, wildly, wishing that he 
could fling the hood of his coat into the air in further demonstra- 
tion of his satisfaction — satisfaction that was increased by the fact 
that beneath the wrappings of the bundle the surgeon had strapped to 
his shoulders he could make out the outlines of the violin case.” 

“ And how are they all, at the palace ?” Dick asked. 

“ Oh, they are all so well up there, that neither pills nor potions 

have the slightest chance to get out of their boxes and bottles. 
Nevertheless, 1 expect to be obliged to perform a serious surgical 
operation before long.” 

“Surgical operation! upon whom?” asked Dick, with consider- 
able anxiety. 

“ Upon the womenettes.” 

“ Goodness ! What’s the matter with them ?” exclaimed Jack, 
full of sympathy. 

“ The queen is stuffing them with studies from morning till night, 
and the king packs it all down as scrupulously as though he were 
packing barrels of sour kraut, and the result is that their minds are 
growing so much faster than their bodies that 1 shall either have to 
amputate their minds to keep them within bounds of their bodies, or 
piece out their bodies to keep up with their minds. They are getting 
so wise it cannot be otherwise.” 

“ Is that some of the good, old Scotch truth that you are so fond 
of talking about?” asked Dick, laughingly. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


215 


“ No; it is Yankee truth.” the surgeon replied, with a responding 
laugh. “ We have quoted you youngsters so often since you left us 
that we have got into the way of keeping off of the ground by putting 
wings to our words ; in other words, we have become a bit flighty or 
imaginative, if you please,” And the Scotchman enjoyed his own 
wit so much that he chuckled loudly enough to be heard by the boys 
in spite of the mufflers covering mouth and ears, and in spite of the 
racket the surf made upon the beach. In fact, the surgeon was so 
glad to see Dick and Jack that his spirits ran away with his sense. 

And all the time he stayed with them on the Maskomet he bubbled 
like a spring that is charged with gas, and when he and Jumps got 
together with violin and clarinet in the evenings, and as an accom- 
paniment to their dissipation brewed a drink out of cranberry juice, 
water and brown sugar, and ate ship biscuit for pretzels, enjoyment 
ran so high that the boys began to feel as though the Maskomet had 
spurned the sand from her keel, and was sailing among clouds that 
were rosy with sunset hues, warm with summery breaths, and frag- 
rant with fields of flowers. 

The surgeon, as in duty bound — and this was one object of his 
visit, which was partly a visit of inspection — mingled with the men 
and asked them all sorts of questions about their stomachs, livers, 
and all their other what-nots, so to speak, and satisfied himself that 
they were able-bodied and fully competent to meet the emergencies 
that might at any moment be thrust upon them by the appearance 
of a wreck. 

Boggs was the only one who gave him any uneasiness. From the 
first moment of meeting him he became convinced that he was not 
only out of place as to his preferences and surroundings, but out of 
mental balance as well. 

To Captain Moline, he said: "There is something desperate on 
that man’s mind. He acts as though he were afraid of everybody, 
and. most of all, afraid of himself ; he presents all the symptoms of 
a man about to go out of his mind. Unless there is a great change 
in him, he must be gotten rid of at the first visitation of the tender. 


216 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


Have you ever had any trouble with him, or any confidences from 
him ?” 

As Moline had no alternative, he informed the surgeon of all that 
had taken place between Boggs and the boys, and between himself 
and Boggs. 

“ It is a far more serious case than 1 had supposed,” said the 
surgeon, anxiously, after he had gained all the details he could. " It 
is evident that he is the prey of remorse and fear; he has commit- 
ted some crime from which he is hiding — some crime great enough 
to make him fear that he is not secure from its consequences even 
here. And yet, that he is not an habitual criminal, is evident from 
the deep melancholy that broods over him with its all possessing and 
all pervading power. V/hat to do with him, is more than I can tell. 
To attempt to take him to the other end of the island, where I could 
keep him under my own eye, would only alarm him still more, and, 
possibly, precipitate the ruin of his mind. There is only one thing 
that can do him any good ; if he were to become repentant toward 
God. and, believing toward our Lord, he might secure the peace that 
would save him from becoming a mental wreck. But, who of us on 
this island is able to minister to a mind diseased — who, sufficient 
for these things? If the boys’ father were here, he might minister 
to him, for when I saw Mr, Melville, he impressed me as a man so 
devoid of veneered shams and sickly sanctities as to be the very 
kind of friend to reach such as stand in the sorest need of a compe- 
tent counsellor.” 

“ The boys must possess some of their father’s characteristics,” 
said Moline, “ for they have more influence over Boggs than all the 
rest of us put together.” 

That goes to show that the man has good stuff in him. It is 
more than likely that he is more the victim of some fatal impulse 
than he is of premeditated wickedness, and that is the reason why 
he remains so hopelessly disturbed. 1 sympathize with him deeply, 
and wish I were able to secure his confidence, but his distrust of him- 
self makes him suspicious of others. I am face to face with a case 
for which mere medical training makes no provision.” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


217 


The surgeon made most tactful overtures of friendship toward the 
unfortunate man, but was repulsed in every instance, for when one 
becomes one’s own worst enemy, all others seem to wear a hostile 
face. The surgeon’s final word concerning him, was: “ Above all 
things, be kind to him, and do not give him any occasion to think 
that you are watching him, as if he had shipped the devil on board 
for good, for that is enough to make any man mad with himselt and 
all the world besides.” 

McDonald remained on the Maskomet for ten days. The Cin- 
derella Carolina was such a marvel to him, that he insisted upon 
taking experimental rides in her, and when he went away, he de- 
clared that the very moment he could find an available cask he 
would transform it into a doctor’s gig. and make his rounds in a 
style more befitting his official position. 





March an important event 
occurred. Dick was at the 
stove clearing out the ashes, 
Jack was on the deck 
sweeping away the sand, 
which the uncivil winds had 
blown aboard. Suddenly 
Jack raised his broom- 
handle and rained a shower 
of blows upon the cabin- 
housing with all the vigor 
he could muster, thereby 
making such a resounding 
tumult over Dick’s head 
that, in his hurry to reach the deck, he upset his ash-pail upon the 
cabin floor. 

•• What the dickens are you making such a row about ?” Dick 
asked, when he had reached the deck and looked around in vain for 
something to explain Jack’s racket. 

“ Row! I’m not making any row,” Jack protested, half indig- 

sio 



220 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


nantly: “ 1 only pounded you out to see what I have seen. Look 
there, will you. and let that sight drive some of the crossness out of 
your face.” 

Looking in the direction indicated by Jack’s finger, Dick saw a 
small white gull skimming the edge of the sea and making seem- 
ingly playful dashes at the crest of the surf. It was the first wing 
of the season, and Dick, realizing what it meant, experienced such 
a sudden attack of spring fever, that he began to hurrah as vig- 
orously as though he were applauding the spread-eagleism of a 
Fourth of July orator, who had soared, and soared, and soared until 
finally landed on daddy’s woodpile for a rest from his high orator- 
ical flight. 

What the dickens are you making such a row about ?” asked 
Jack, imitating Dick’s recent frown, and cracking his voice into a 
splintery growl that was as like Dick’s as one mouse is like 
another. 

For answer, Dick hurrahed again with more violence than before, 
and this time Jack joined him with a vehemence that outnoised his 
brother. Well, there was good reason for their joy. The winter 
had been a great tax upon their spirits. Having no skates, they 
were cut off from skating, and if they had had ever so many they 
would still have been cut off, for, though the lake was frozen almost 
to the bottom, yet the changes of the weather were so sudden, and 
the dangers among the dunes so great in the winter time, that Cap- 
tain Moline had forbidden them from venturing out of sight of the 
station. They rigged up a toboggan, but found it useless, because 
the sand was mixed up with the snow in such equal proportions, that 
when they tried the snow-covered dune that laid nearest to the sta- 
tion, they found that the bottom of the toboggan stuck to the snow 
as closely as if it were on sandpaper. The confinement of their 
cabin fermented their uneasy spirits to such an extent that again and 
again they were in danger of blowing the cork out of their bottled 
life, and seizing upon the small life-dory and having an old-time 
frolic with the surf. 

They hurrahed every time that little patch of gull-white cut a 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


221 


fantastic caper against the green water and the blue sky. and 
encouraged it with all the demonstrations of joy that lay within 
their power. 

Vat vas dose matter mit dem poys vat make some noise ?” asked 
Jumps, who, attracted by the cheering, had. unobserved by the boys, 
made his way to the deck with his own morning broom in hand. 

“Matter!” exclaimed jack. “Why, don’t you hear the music. 
Jumps ?” 

" 1 don’t hears some music, not a pit — only dot surf, vich vas no 
more music dan dot Irish vas English.” 

“ There— there ! Don’t you heart that ?” exclaimed Jack, as the 
gull, floating on still wings, allowed the wind to blow it over the 
crow’s nest, where, in passing, it uttered a cry shrill enough to pierce 
a penny. 

Jumps slowly lowered the handle of his broom to the deck, and, 
giving the planking a ponderous thump, said, with a frowning face ; 
" Ach ! donner und blitzen ! You vas dinks dot gull vas a nighdin- 
gale vrom Sharmany, don’t she?” 

“ Anything in the shape of feathers is a nightingale, now, Jumps, 
for it tells us that the spring is coming.” And, knowing how to 
charm Jumps’ seemingly refractory soul, Dick struck an attitude, 
and from a fragment which he had laboriously committed to memory 
from Thomson’s “ Seasons” not long before, he loudly recited : 

Leud me your song, ye nightingales! Oh, pour 
The mazy-running soul of melody 
Into my varied verse! while I deduce 
From the first note the hollow cuckoo sings. 

The symphony of Spring, und touch the theme 
Unknown to fame— the Passion of the Groves, 

When the first soul of love is sent abroad. 

Warm through the vital air, and on the heart 
Harmonious seizes, the gay troops begin 
In gallant thought, to plume the painted wing 
And try again the long forgotten strain. 

At first warbled. 


222 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


Whilst Dick was reciting this ecstatic piece, Jumps’ jaws fol- 
lowed the motions of the reciter’s lips, and his head bobbed up 
and down as though it were afloat on the waves, and Jack became 
so much interested in watching him that he didn’t hear a word of 
the “ boetry.” 

The words were mostly Greek to the giant, but the mention of 
nightingales and cuckoos, and groves and spring, sent the poor fel- 
low’s memory to the scenes of his childhood, and when Dick finished, 
the boys were surprised to see great bubble-sized tears lumbering 
down the big honest face. 

‘‘I didn’t intend to make you feel bad,” Dick hastened to say, 
with considerable remorse. 

Ach ! Ven her vas veels padt den she vas veels pooty goot, und 
vants some more of dose boetry mit dose nighdingales und dot 
hollow cuckoo vat she vas lofes ven she vas a poy hisselluf. You 
vas coom mit me und dry dot boetry on dem seals like mein glari- 
net, und you vas see dem stan’ on dose tails, they vas be so gladt to 
hear you.” 

Meanwhile, another white gull had made its appearance, and there 
were two, now, playing hide-and-go-seek among the hollows of the 
waves and the curves and scrolls of the surf. Presently they 
alighted on the boiling waters, and, while tossing up and down, 
managed to keep so closely together, that it was evident that they 
were holding a tete-a-tete about their recent travels, and the pro- 
priety of settling down together for housekeeping arrangements dur- 
ing the summer. 

A few days after sighting the first gull, there was an innumerable 
host hovering over the old haunts. After the small white gulls 
came the blue-tails, then the black-heads followed, and last of all 
came the great lumbering buzzard-like gray gull, whose stately, 
solemn movements were doubtlessly intended to show that all gulls 
were not of flippant wing and crazy motion. Their shriek, even, 
was modified by their size, and was far less discordant than 
the little snippers, which seemed to measure their importance 
by the frequency and shrillness of the sounds they made. Jack 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


223 


judged that the big gray fellows were the prophets and apostles of 
their race. 

There was a feast in waiting to welcome the gulls back to the 
island, for during the winter all manner of dead fish had been 
thrown upon the shore, and the carcasses of three drift cattle lay 
upon the southern beach. All these, though frozen to the bone 
during the winter, were now mellowed to just the requisite degree 
ot ripeness to suit the gulline appetite, and were sought after with 
an eagerness that showed that the gulls knew a good thing when 
they saw it. 

After the gulls, came the different kinds of ducks, ranging from 
the little dumpy coot, with his sooty suit and stumpy tail and imperti- 
nent antics, up to the shelldrake. with his bewildering variety of colors 
dominated over by an immaculately white necktie and a glossy green 
tail curled and waxed upward like the moustache of a Frenchman. 
And, by the way, this duck puts on so much style, his forefathers 
must have lived in Paris. 

Following upon the heels, or rather the tails, of the ducks, 
carme the lordly brant and wild geese, whose imperious manners 
admitted of no familiarities from their inferiors. They were the 
patricians of the feathered host, and, in fact, the monarchs of all 
they surveyed. 

About the middle of April the small fry began to make their ap- 
pearance : plover, curlew, snipe and sand-piper, and the drumming 
they kept up among the dunes, and the whistling along the shores, 
made it seem as if the sands themselves were in the highest stages 
of an all- pervading spring fever. 

A little later there was a rain, or reign, of eggs ; big drops and 
little drops showered down by the nestfull in all sorts of colors and 
in all sorts of places, so that if the shells had all been emptied at 
once, the whole island would have been turned into one vast omelet. 
As it was, a pony couldn’t put his foot down at a venture among the 
beach grass without spoiling a prospective family. 

Besides all this, the surfaces of the wet, marshy meadows 
revealed millions of little mounds, with round holes close by them, 


224 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


from which emerged myriads of spider crabs in sidling ways, with 
freckled shells and sharp, protuberant eyes, and all scurrying about 
in such comical haste it was evident that they, too, were making 
ready to participate in the general ceremonies of the spring 
opening. Among this host of small crustaceans there were grave 
crabs of more sober colors, and consequently with a broader breadth 
of beam, as one might expect from inhabitants who were not 
swallowed up in questions of dress ; and as one might naturally 
anticipate, also, these were good for something — good to eat — tor 
they were sweet with a sweetness that did not depend upon the fash- 
ions they wore. 

The pots and kettles, pans and plates of the Maskomet bade a 
long good-by to the teeth-wearing salt junk and measly flips of side 
bacon ; a long, long good-by to dried codfish and pickled and 
smoked herring, and all the other scurvy-provoking products of the 
salt barrel, for the winter was past and gone, and the voices of the 
boys and the sound of their guns were again heard in the land. 

The Cinderella Carolina was altogether too slow to suit the fast 
pace of the opening season, and she was allowed to suck her thumbs 
in the shadows of the Maskomet while the boys, now a combination 
of the Centaur and the Nimrod, trotted and galloped hither and yon 
upon the rejuvenated backs of Topsy and Tuiwy, and brought 
in spoils of eggs, crabs and flesh that would have tempted the 
children of Israel worse than they were ever tempted in the wilder- 
ness. 

All winter long Bingo’s tail drooped like a tale of woe, but now it 
was curled over his back like a rainbow of promise, and every 
hair on his vast hide stood up and proclaimed that the days of 
jubilee had come. The very fleas made him all the more consci- 
ous of spring, for the alert Little Corporals or Napoleons renewed 
their campaigns in his hide with a vigor that once more forced him 
to resort to his sovereign cure for all the ills that dog-flesh is heir 
to — a plunge into the surf, to be followed by unlimited rolls in 
the nearest dry sands. When this remedy was taken according 
to directions — the directions of his own unerring instincts — the fleas 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


225 


met their Waterloo, and the Bernard resumed his spring complac- 
ency and stalked about, looking as invincible as Wellington and 
Blucher combined. 

One morning after he had thus taken his heroic measures and 
turned to flight the armies of the aliens, he started off on one of his 
solitary excursions among the dunes. The night had been windy 
and the air heavy with a thick fog. He had not been long gone 
when he bounded into the cabin of the Maskomet and laid a robin 
at Dick's feet — a robin that had still enough of life left in it to make 
a feeble attempt to get upon its feet when released from the Ber- 
nard’s cavernous jaws. 

Not until Dick had picked the robin up and examined it tenderly, 
could he credit his own senses. “ Why. it is a robin !” he exclaimed, 
while Jack was too m.uch delighted to say anything. “ Where in the 
world did you get this. Bingo?” 

The Bernard barked and wagged his tail as expressively as he 
could, but without making the boys any the wiser, for they, as yet, 
were destitute of a dictionary to his language. 

“The poor fellow hasn’t a scratch upon him,” said Dick, joyfully. 
“ It has been blown from the mainland, and tumbled down here in 
the fog in distress.” 

Redbreast uttered a feeble peep, as if in confirmation of this wise 
guess at his. adventures, and, after warming and drying him in his 
hands, and finding that the little stranger was inclined to assert his 
ability to stand on his own legs, Dick placed him on the floor and put 
before him cracker crumbs and water, which the robin resorted to 
with a vigor that showed how hungry and thirsty he was. 

Having eaten and drunken his fill, he shook his plumage, and, fly- 
ing upon a projecting cornice, made his toilet with great care, and 
then put his head under his wing and went as soundly asleep as if 
boys and dogs were a hundred miles away. 

Meanwhile, Dick and Jack, the Bernard assisting them all he 
could with his great interested eyes, improvised a cage out of a big 
cheese-box they had picked up among the drift. They had only to 
saw off a section, put in a roost, turn the box on edge upon a little 


226 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


floor made for it, and nail on a few perpendicular slats, and there 
they were — with a cage that the robin, nothing loth, took possession 
of with as much contentment as if he had been born with the whole 
establishment over his head. 

When the giant came in and discovered the new-comer, he ex- 
claimed ; “ Py Jubitor, mein poys ! Vas you vly home last night 

und coom pack mit dot ropin right ervay ? If you vas pring Jumps 
a cuckoo und some nighdingale mit dot ropin, 1 vas go grazy right 
ervay pooty soon, I vas veels so goot mit myselluf.” 

When the boys told the giant that the Bernard found the prize, 
and had delivered it safely into their keeping. Jumps said, patting 
the great fellow upon the head tenderly ; “ Ach, Pingo ! She 
vas dinks more of dose poys dan she vas of Jumps ven she prings dot 
ropin here und nodt to dot Jumps. Und vat you dinks I vas do to 
bunish her mit ?” 

The Bernard did not seem to know, nor did he learn until the 
giant solemnly marched out of the cabin, and then, after a short ab- 
sence, just as solemnly marched in again, with a small china sauce- 
dish filled with wild strawberries, which he had preserved from the 
last season's crop— for wild strawberries abounded on Sable 
Island. These he carefully put through the little door of 
the cage, and the robin no sooner saw them than he pounced down 
upon them with as much vigor and recklessness as if, in spite of 
swinging tin cans, flashing mirrors, and scare-crows clad in the dis- 
carded old clothes of respectable people, he were ravaging a straw- 
berry bed that had just hung out its ripening fruit in its usual come- 
pick-me style. 

“ Her vas dinks dot vas all right, don’t it ?” said the giant, his 
face blossoming into a broad sunflower smile and his eyes sparkling 
with a clear springwater brightness, and his great white teeth all the 
while peeping through his heavy beard as if very anxious to know 
what had made their master so happy. 

Having sated himself the robin flew to his perch, and, after clean- 
ing his bill with great care, swelled his throat with a few experi- 
mental notes of satisfaction. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


227 


“ Ach !” Jumps exclaimed, *• dot vas sounds pooty much petter 
dan dot gulls vat say noddins put sheep-shee-eep-sheep all dose 
dimes she vas vlyin’ novheres. Put dot ropins don’t vind no vorms 
mit dot sand if she vas mit dose hills, und no cherries if she vas vly 
erpout.” 

•• We can catch sandhoppers for him,” said Jack. 

“Ach !” replied the giant, with a look of disgust ; •• no landt pird 
vas pe so voolish vor dot ; ve vas hafe to gif her vresh meat vrom 
dose skippers und vorms vat ve vinds mit dose cracggers vat ve 
eats. If you prings me von, I vas show her pooty qvick how 
she eat.” 

Jack brought one of the most venerable ship biscuit he could find 
in the locker, and the giant opening it brought out several well- 
matured skippers, which on being offered to the robin, were gobbled 
down with an avidity that showed a good healthy appetite ; and when 
the robin cocked his head and uttered a plaintive cry for more, the 
giant was delighted. 

“ She vas nodt kick dose pucket on Sable Island any more dan 
dose poys vat vas coom here to live,” he said, with placid satisfac- 
tion. 

“ Why, Jumps, you know almost everything,” exclaimed Dick. 

“ Nein; it vas dot ropin vat knows more dan dose men vat maks 
so mooch vuss erpout dot vorrg^in dot pred ven she don’t vant to 
eats dem. Dey say it vasn’t vit to eat, und dot ropin vas say dot dot 
vorm vas der pest bart,” 

Ugh!” Jack exclaimed, with disgust, “you wouldn’t have the 
men eat the skippers, would you? I don’t wonder at their making 
such a fuss over skippery ship biscuit.” 

“ Und subbose dot ropin vas gombelled to chaw some terbagger 
und soom smoke pesides, vat vas she do mit his belly, den?” 

“ Double up on it, 1 suppose, jack replied, laughing. 

“ She vas dinks dot ter tuyfel vas git in him und vants to git oudt 
agin pooty qvick. Dot ropin vas all right ven she hafe eat dot 
nice vorms vat hafe boarded inside dose nice pret all dose lives, 
don’t she?” 


228 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


The robin was named Linden, in honor of the tree Jumps talked 
so much about, and that evening every man in the station came 
over to the Maskomet to give the robin a welcome. And as each 
man had been duly informed by jumps of the bird’s partiality for bis- 
cuit worms, each man saved what had skipped out of his portion 
during the supper and brought them over as an offering to Linden’s 
less squeamish tastes. And, afterward, if they found a spider, or 
anything that they thought would be acceptable to the robin, they 
hastened to board the Maskomet with it. Linden was partial enough 
to spiders, but most of the other insects brought in were rejected by 
him, thus showing that, while the sand birds might have no difficulty 
in picking up a living on the island, there were few things there that 
would tempt the appetite of field and bower birds. 

The robin became very fond of the Bernard, and when given 
the freedom of the cabin, v/ould light on the dog and nestle down in 
his voluminous curls with the greatest satisfaction. He soon dis- 
covered that Bingo was a world in himself to a population that was 
all his own, and he kept such a sharp lookout for fleas, that when 
any of them went tree-climbing far enough up Bingo’s hair to heave 
in sight, they were immediately pounced upon as a morsel that was not 
to be despised. He must have been a bit of a logician, arguing that 
fleas looked like ants, and that things that looked anyway alike must 
taste considerably alike. If there were differences between flea meat 
and ant meat they were not sufficient to cause the robin any wry 
faces. Bingo appreciated the practical value of his new friend, and 
when Linden lit on him, immediately threw himself into the positions 
that were best adapted to facilitate the robin’s hunts ; and so it hap- 
pened that what Sable Island was to the boys as a hunting field, the 
body of the dog became to the robin. 

April was also made memorable by a spring visit that Dick and 
jack received from the womenettes, for which, having been fore- 
warned by message, they prepared the cabin and also the Cinderella 
Carolina, When the king, pudgy in body and ponderous in voice as 
ever, escorted his daughters, for he had accompanied them on the 
trip, into the cabin of the Maskomet, and saw how neatly and com- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


229 


fortably it had been fitted up and kept, he said, with a great show of 
formality and apparently with some feeling of jealousy and dis- 
pleasure : 

“Well, my lords, it strikes me that your lordships are trying to 
surpass the splendors and conveniences of the royal palace ; 1 hope 
it does not mean that you intend to compete with my prerogatives 
or to usurp royal authority. But 1 forget ; being Americans, you 
are too loyal to the democracy of your own national institutions to 
think of putting on monarchial airs on Sable Island. Still, I think 
that I must investigate, during my stay the precise meaning of the 
Cinderella Carolina chariot, of which I have heard so much from, th® 
surgeon. 1 fear that there is more high treason connected with that 
than with anything I see around me.” 

The boys protested that they were only putting things in shape so 
that when they themselves left the island His Majesty might find, at 
least, one place that would be suitable for the accommodation of 
royalty when it condescended to visit the East End. 

Two of the little women brought their guns with them, and the 
week they spent on the Maskomet and among the dunes, and at the 
lake, was one to be remembered. The womenettes became infatu- 
ated with the Cinderella Carolina, and every evening they insisted 
upon taking their airing upon the-beach, their royal esplanade for the 
time being. 

The boys were so much pleased with the honor showed to their 
invention that they bestowed it, harnesses and all, upon the prin- 
cesses, and trained the royal horses to behave themselves within 
the traces in a manner befitting the Cinderella Carolina’s utility and 
splendor. 

During the time of the royal visitors’ stay, there was a continual 
round of fun, sport, feasting and fellowship. Jumps became an im- 
portant personage with the king and his daughters three, and they 
declared that his appeals to their palates were never more success- 
ful than during this visit, and that the tickling of the tongue was a 
good two-thirds of the way to the touching of the heart. Food and 
favor are seldom out of sight of each other, and they who would en- 


230 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


joy the sweets of friendship must maintain a close alliance with the 
meats of the table. Nevertheless, it is somewhat humiliating to 
think that the higher sentiments of the mind are so dependent upon 
the inferior appetites of the body, for it is like yoking asses to draw 
elephants. 

When the royal equipage, with its canvas-top, and all, drove away, 
and the cask wheel creaked and rumbled beneath its precious load, 
the boys, playing the part of knightly cavaliers, accompanied it for 
several miles, and when the parting came, the smiling, freckled faces 
of the princesses beamed their gratitude anew for the munificent 
generosity which had conferred a chariot that enabled the highborn 
dames to return to their mother in a manner becoming to their rank 
and state. 

Let not tne reader smile at the high language here used to de- 
scribe common things, for are not our girls and boys the genuine 
ladies and knights, nay, more, the real queens and kings, that rule 
our hearts and the destinies of nations ? 



THE REVELATIONS OE A 
WRECK 

HE usual spring gale had 
proved a laggard ; the first 
fogs of the season came in 
advance ot the equinoctial 
storm, which was a rather 
unusual reversal of weather 
succession. But Captain 
Moline, being a weather-wise 
old sailor, kept his life-saving 
apparatus in such good shape 
that it was ready for work at 
any moment. 

It was well he did, for there 
came a day when the baro- 
meter went down like lead 
the clouds piled up like moun- 
tains, the wind blew with the 
force of great guns, and the 
surf rose like a lion from its 
lair. 

The Maskomet quivered 
through all her stout timbers, and the station and its outbuildings 
seemed in danger of being flattened to the ground. The waves 


^*31 


232 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


rolled so far up the beach they poured in upon the sands of the Mas- 
komet’s hold, and the boys took refuge at the station. They had 
witnessed great storms at Black Point, but none so severe as this. 
The caps of the dunes were blown away in showers of sand that so 
filled the air. it was dangerous to expose one’s face to the rasping 
grit. Both the tame and wild ponies huddled, as best they might, 
under the lee of the dunes, but their shaggy coat became so loaded 
with sand, it was only by constant shaking of themselves that they 
were enabled to keep their feet. Most of the feathered inhabitants 
of the island also huddled close to anything that would afford a shel- 
ter from the force of the blast. The gulls, fearless wingsters of the 
storm, were the exception; when the storm was at its highest they 
were at their merriest, and rode the gale in flocks which defied the 
very armies of Heaven, all the while uttering their piercing cries as 
if enjoying the combined tumult of earth, air and sea. 

The carcass of the great whale was rent in pieces, and the mam- 
moth bones were tossed about the beach as though they were tooth- 
picks. Wrecks that had lain upon the shores for years were either 
shifted about like cockle-shells or dismembered altogether. The 
temperature was lowered so suddenly that the thick gray mists turned 
into great flakes of snow that made it almost impossible to discern 
where the surf ended and the snow began, the white of the one 
blended so perfectly with the white of the other. 

The men were scattered as widely as possible on the north beach, 
for the gale blew from the northeast, and if any vessel should happen 
to be caught in the toils of the island, it would be most likely to be 
caught on the north side. The Bernard was in his element, and 
raced up and down the beach fully on the alert to the possibility of 
disaster to human beings. 

Captain Moline allowed Dick and Jack to accompany him on his 
own beat, which extended along the beach for a distance of three 
miles from the station, where jumps was left in charge. 

During one of their halts, the captain, peering through the snow- 
flurry, said: •• Boys, 1 think there is a topmast lifting itself through 
the snow cloud yonder, but, possibly, my anxiety is making me see 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


233 


things that do not exist. Your eyes are sharper than mine ; get 
back of my right shoulder and look along my arm and finger and see 
if thf^re is anything there.” 

But, before the boys could comply, a rift in the flurry enabled all 
three to trace the outline of a large ship grounded broadside on with 
the waves breaking over her in great sheets of black and white. 

Instinctively, all three began to gallop toward the station. It took 
but a few moments for the captain, with the assistance of the boys 
and the giant, to run out the signal gun and to discharge it several 
times, as a signal to the wreck that she was seen, and to the men to 
hasten them to the station. 

The men were so widely scattered, that it seemed an age before 
they got together and were ready to start for the relief of the crew 
of the doomed ship. When they got abreast of the wreck, which 
was now plainly in view, the snow squall was over. 

The scant canvas was blov/ing in ribbons, and the crew were scat- 
tered about in the rigging, a position offering but little security, be- 
cause the ship was rocking so violently, the masts were likely to go 
by the board at any moment. 

Bear a hand there, men!” Captain Moline shouted, as he low- 
ered the glass with which he had been trying to measure the situa- 
tion, “ there is a woman lashed in the main rigging, and, as near as 1 
can make out, there is also a small child lashed there with her.” 

The ship was too distant to be reached by the gun-line, and if any 
succor was to be given, it must be given by the life-boat. The men 
did not flinch, although it seemed almost certain death for them to 
face that surf. Out through the boiling flood, inch by inch, they 
fought their way. In the darker water, their position was not so 
perilous' and, fortunately for them, the position of the ship — broad- 
side on — gave them a bit of lee-water under the rail in which they 
could work to advantage, though the masts might go at any time and 
engulf their boat in the common ruin. The woman and child were 
rescued from the rigging, and the boat soon had all it was safe for 
her to undertake to land in one trip, and, by a miracle of courage and 
skill, was brought safe to the beach. 


234 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


Encouraged by their success, the heroic men, under their heroic 
captain, started on their second trip. Meanwhile, the upper masts, 
with yard-arms and hamper, had been shaken into the sea like so 
many straws ; yet, in spite of this, the boat again returned safely 
through the line of surf, and when the men landed, they gave a wild 
cheer, for every soul was saved. 

The boys did not witness the second trip, for the woman and the 
child, a small girl, were so much chilled and weakened, it was neces- 
sary that they should be carried to shelter at the earliest possible 
moment, and Jack and Dick were detailed to perform that duty. 

When Captain Lanier, master of the fourteen-hundred-ton ship 
Aberdeen, of Clyde, Scotland, bound for Halifax, reached the sta- 
tion, he found his wife and child being cared for by the boys on the 
Maskomet, from which the tide had receded, leaving her unharmed. 
Captain Lanier was overjoyed to find that neither his wife nor his 
daughter had sustained any injury. He himself had not been so 
fortunate. In getting his men away from the ship, during the last 
trip of the rescuers, he was caught in a jam of wreckage which 
broke two of his ribs, which made it necessary to send for Surgeon 
McDonald. 

The other men of the ship escaped without a scratch, and, 
after a night of rest, they were able to begin their march to the 
other end of the island, where the refuge and its supplies would be 
available for their needs. 

By noon of the second day, the wreck broke up and the cargo, 
consisting chiefly of heavy machinery and a varied supply of furni- 
ture, became the prey of the sea. For hours, sofas, tete-a-tetes, 
rockers, chairs, bedsteads, cabinets, tables, large and small, and like 
pieces, were tossed upon the beach by wagon loads. The men gath- 
ered the unbroken pieces and stacked them upon the upper beach, 
though, with the exception of some selections made for the station 
and the Maskomet, they could only be regarded as so much fuel laid 
up for the succeeding winter. Much of the ship’s cabin bedding and 
most of the officers’ personal belongings were also cast ashore, and 
these, after being dried in the sun, were again available for use. 




ON SABLE ISLAND 


237 


The boys, having given their room to the Laniers, fitted up the 
outer cabin for their own occupation. 

Mrs. Lanier quickly recovered from the shock of the shipwreck, 
and, being a thoroughly practical woman, and having learned that 
the boys were also castaways, immediately assumed all the house- 
keeping arrangements of the Maskomet, and with such skill that 
things went on with clock-like regularity. 

Both the captain and his wife were Scotch ; just young enough 
to be companionable and old enough to be paternal, as the boys soon 
discovered. 

The surgeon arrived the second day after the wreck, and relieved 
Mrs. Lanier’s anxieties by assuring her that her husband’s injuries 
were of such a nature that they would soon yield to rest and 
treatment. 

Lena, the daughter, a pretty child of six years, became a delight- 
ful companion for the boys, and the pet of all the men at the 
station. 

“ Mit dot laty, und dot leetle kirl, und dot ropin, und dose poys,” 
said the giant, with delight, ” ve vas pe so goot und habby her don’t 
vant noddin pesides dill her vas all gone pack to somevheres vonce 
more. Ach ! put her von’t dink erpout dot no more !” And his 
exclamation showed that he was determined to enjoy the new pleas- 
ures that had come into his existence to the best of his ability while 
they lasted. 

Some days after the wreck. Captain Moline, happening to be alone 
with Boggs, said to him warmly : " Boggs, you stood your first life- 

service nobly: no man could have done better. When I saw how 
the waves were breaking over that ship, and, especially over the part 
above which Mrs. Lanier and her daughter were lashed, I had sore 
doubts as to their safety. Yet you went through that water and up 
those shrouds, and brought them down like a hero. They owe their 
lives to your bravery. The men are full of your praises, and so are 
the captain and his wife and daughter.” 

I only did my duty,” replied Boggs, coloring under the warmth 
of Moline’s approval. 


238 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


■■ Very true, but there are different ways of doing one’s duty, you 
know. You didn’t do yours as though you were trying to shorten it 
at both ends, but went the whole length of it with a courage and skill 
never exceeded since I have been here. You did honor to the serv- 
ice, and when I report the loss of the Aberdeen, I shall make special 
mention of you as worthy of a gold medal.” 

“ But I wasn’t brave ; there was no bigger coward on the ship that 
day^ and 1 came near flunking on the whole business. The only way 
1 could prevent it was by shutting my lips together and saying to my- 
self, ‘ Boggs, you are a miserable wretch, not fit to live, and if you 
are going to be different from what you have been, now is your 
chance, though you risk your life in taking it.' That was the thought 
that steeled me against danger and enabled me to overcome my 
cowardice.” 

Seizing him by the hand. Captain Moline said ; " Let me say. 

frankly, that you are a much better man than I have taken you for. 
The bravest and best man is the one who puts his foot upon his fears 
and does his duty as though there was nothing to fear — the man who 
knows his weaknesses and yet triumphs over them.” 

" Thank you. captain ! You are building better than you know. 
If 1 ever get out of the pit into which I have fallen it will be because 
I have not yet gone so far down as to be beyond your sympathy, and 
because, instead of shovelling sand upon a fellow, you have tried to 
dig me out.” 

He turned to go away, but the captain intercepted him, saying: 
“ Now that Captain Lanier is able to sit up and is quite comfortable, 
he is inquiring after you and blaming himself because he does not 
know you by sight. You were so muffled up, you know, and he was 
so preoccupied that he could not distinguish you from the rest of the 
men.” 

“ That is not to be wondered at. for as he was muffled as much 
as I, I didn’t get a chance to see how he looked, and should not 
know him if I were to see him.” 

“ Well, he is able to see you now. and is anxious to thank you in 
person for saving his wife and child. Come with me and I will in- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


239 


troduce you. 1 know that you don’t want any fuss made over the 
matter, but it will only be the civil thing to call upon him since he is 
not able to call on you, though he is so anxious to see you.” 

“ Just as you say.” Boggs assented, with diffidence. 

Captain Lanier sat with his back to the cabin door, and Lena was 
sitting at his feet, while his wife, accompanied by Dick and Jack, 
were at the station after supplies for their table. Hearing the cabin 
door open, the captain, a punctilious man, rose to greet the 
visitors. 

The instant Boggs got a full view of the captain’s face, his own 
blanched to a deadly white, and he cried in manifest agony : “ My 

God ! I am caught at last !” Turning, he fled the cabin and ship 
as though a thousand furies were in chase. 

For an instant Captain Lanier was stupefied, but quickly recover- 
ing himself, he said, with an ominous look of triumphant anger : 
" Yes ! at last ! and in spite of your hiding in this out of the way 
place. Captain Moline, a reward of a thousand pounds is offered 
for the arrest of that man Clancy ; he is an escaped criminal, and 
in the nam.e of the law I demand that you make him prisoner and 
hold him securely until such time as he can be delivered to justice.” 

“ Clancy !” exclaimed Moline, who was overwhelmed by the ex- 
traordinary conduct of both men,” you are mistaken. Captain Lanier, 
that man’s name is Boggs !” 

“ Oh, of course ! Boggs, or anything else he chooses to call him- 
self, but no assumed name can hide him. You saw for yourself how 
quickly he recognized me, and you heard what he said ; and I again 
demand that he be arrested and shackled.” 

For what ?” 

“ For murder. Two years ago my brother and 1 were playing 
billiards in Liverpool, England, in the billiard-room of the hotel where 
we were stopping at the time. While we were amusing ourselves, 
this man Clancy, who is the son of a wealthy brewer, came in with 
another young man, and began a game at another table. As he 
kept constantly commenting upon our game in insulting terms my 


240 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


brother finally requested him to confine his attention to his own 
game. 

Clancy immediately raised his cue, and, with the butt end of it, 
smote my brother a blow that laid him dead at my feet. In the con- 
fusion of the moment the murderer escaped, and although all Scot- 
land Yard has had its best detectives after him we have never been 
able to get the slightest clue to his whereabouts. No wonder he was 
surprised to see me. Thank God ! 1 have him fast enough, now. 
But how does it happen that he is here ?” 

“ He came here in the same way you did. by a wreck — a vessel 
on which he had shipped as a common sailor. We lost a man in 
trying to save the crew to which he belonged. This man asked to 
be taken in the place of the lost lifeman, and we granted his 
request. His first work was done in rescuing your crew, and it was 
he who took your wife and child from the main rigging at the risk of 
his own life. He is the man whom you have urged me to bring in 
and introduce to you and your wife that you might thank him person- 
ally for his brave service ; he came in at my request.” 

Captain Lanier groaned bitterly, and fell back into his chair sigh- 
ingly, saying : “ This is terrible !” 

1 knew.” Captain Moline continued, “ that there was something 
mysterious about the man ; he has been full of remorse for some- 
thing ever since he came here, and I believe that half the time he 
has been partly insane ; but of late he seemed changed tor the better, 
and I am sure that he was trying to be a different man. Indeed, he 
had gone so far as to tell me that he would devote the remainder of his 
able-bodied life to the service of Sable Island, and thus try to make 
amends for the mistakes of his earlier career. I know that he is 
quick-tempered ; he struck that younger Melville boy a cruel blow 
once, but the boys, though, at the time, they came very near shoot- 
ing him in his tracks, forgave him, and have done much toward turn- 
ing him to better things. He doubtless killed your brother in a fit of 
drunken anger.” 

“Yes, he was quick-tempered,” said Captain Lanier, " so much 
so that his father refused to let him remain under his roof. And I 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


241 


know that he was somewhat the worse for liquor at the time he 
killed my brother. What you say about his remorse and his pur- 
poses. makes my duty all the more painful. Providence has brought 
me face to face with him. and he must go to the bar and suffer for 
his offense. English law does not play fast and loose with men who 
take life with the recklessness of brutes. 

That there may be no mistake about the man’s identity, take 
some of your men and bring him here again. But. whether he is 
brought or not, 1 solemnly charge that man with the death of my 
brother, and affirm that he is a criminal for whom English law has 
been searching the world for the past two years. You and 1 have no 
discretion in the matter.” 

Captain Lanier spoke with so much decision and certainty that 
Captain Moline said he would comply with his demands. After ac- 
quainting the surgeon with the new and startling turn affairs had 
taken, Moline and he took two other men and began to make search 
for the criminal. Boggs had been seen fleeing hatless in the direc- 
tion of the lake, and, it was further learned, that Dick and Jack, 
alarmed at his conduct, and fearing for his safety, were following in 
the hope of persuading him to return to the station and to lie down 
and rest, for they, as yet had no suspicion of what had thrown him 
into such a panic. 

Mounting ponies, and apprehensive for the boys, as well as for 
Boggs, the four men galloped toward the lower part of the lake. 
They overtook Dick and Jack not far from the lake, and learned 
that the man was among the dunes just ahead of them, and that he 
had paid no more attention to their hail than if they were not in 
existence. 

When they sighted Clancy, as we shall now call him. the fugitive, 
seeing that he was likely to be headed off from the course he was 
fleeing, made a turn to the right and plunged into a short, shallow 
arm of the lake, as if intending to reach the other side before his 
pursuers could reach him. 

‘•Merciful heavens!” Moline exclaimed, “ he ought to know as 
well as any of us, that he is going into the deadliest quicksand that 


242 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


can be found on Sable Island ; his new fear has swallowed up all 
other fears.” 

They halted their ponies, and begged of him to desist, at the same 
time reminding him of the nature of the place. Yet he was deaf to 
everything they said, and plunged into the shallow water, and on- 
ward, until he reached the treacherous sand, which yielded at every 
step lie took. Although the water was but two and a half feet deep, 
it was depth enough for his salvation, if he would have heeded Mo- 
line’s entreaties to throw himself flat and paddle overhand for shore. 
Blind to everything but the one fear that had seized upon him, 
Clancy pressed ahead until further progress became impossible. 
Finding that he was being sucked down, he threshed about in agon- 
ized attempts to release himself. 

No power on earth can save him now,” the surgeon exclaimed, 
for no living man dare follow him into that deadly ooze.” 

Dick and Jack, remembering where they had left the little, flat 
boat at their last duck hunt, had left the men and gone after it, not- 
withstanding it was some distance away, for they knew that the 
course Clancy took would plunge him into the quicksands. And 
now, just as the last words of the surgeon left his lips, the punt came 
from behind a little point, and, with the boys paddling with all their 
power, made directly for the struggling man, who had only his head 
and shoulders above water, and was uttering the most piercing cries 
while beating the waters around him. 

Moline and his companions, knowing that the madman would 
swamp the little punt the instant it came within his reach, 
and that both boys would be in danger of being drawn down 
to death with him, warned them that the punt was too small to be 
of any use. 

“ Not if we push the bow up to him and give him that to hold to, 
while we stand in the stern and let him pull himself out.” Dick re- 
plied, still pushing ahead. 

“ Back, I command you back to the shore,” shouted Moline. 

We can’t see a man go down like that,” was the resolute 


answer. 


DEATH OF BOGGS. 











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ON SABLE ISLAND 


245 


" He will drag you down,” shouted the surgeon, frantically. 

But the boys’ blood was up, and they still pushed ahead. 

“ Come back into the stern, Jack,” said Dick, in a low voice, 
“while I put the bow within his reach, and if he upsets us. throw 
yourself flat to the water over the stern, and for the rest, you know 
what to do.” 

The minute the bow reached Clancy, the punt went over in a flash, 
while the men on shore stood helplessly aghast. 

Dick and Jack, simultaneously with the madman’s seizure of the 
punt, flung themselves flatly upon the water beyond his reach, and, 
with his last cry ringing in their ears, struck out, instinctively keeping 
their feet from the treacherous bottom, and, half scrambling and half 
swimming, reached the shore without difficulty, When they looked 
out upon the water only a few bubbles rose to tell where Clancy had 
gone down. 

Jack, who all along had felt a boundless pity for the lost man, 
turned his face away and sobbed bitterly, while Dick, pale with anger, 
turned to Captain Moline, and said; “What in Heaven’s name were 
you hounding that poor fellow for in that infernal way? If you had 
left us alone with him. we might have quieted him and persuaded him 
to return with us.” 

The surgeon, tossed between his admiration of the boy’s pluck 
and his grief for the man’s tragical fate, falteringly answered : 
“ Gently, my lad, it is no time for rash speech. Justice sent us 
in search of him in the beginning, but it was mercy that prompted 
us to pursue him in the end ; for, realizing that he had become 
suddenly insane, we sought to prevent him from doing harm to 
himself, little dreaming that he would rush into the very place that 
would insure his death.” 

“Justice !” Dick exclaimed, not yet pacified; “ what do you mean 
by justice, when he, in saving Mrs. Lanier and her daughter, accord- 
ing to Captain Moline and all his men, proved himself the bravest 
of the brave?” 

“ Look here, boys,” abruptly interrupted Captain Moline, not yet 
recovered from the anger he had experienced at the boys rushing 


246 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


into the danger from which he had ordered them to turn back, but 
at the same time profoundly grateful that they had escaped harm, 
and beginning to share the surgeon’s admiration for their bravery ; 
‘‘ look here, boys, it was well for you that you were beyond my reach 
when you disobeyed my orders. Do you know that you have narrowly 
escaped that man’s fate ? If he could have gotten hold of you noth- 
ing would have saved you.” 

“ I had guarded against that while we were going out to him, by 
cautioning Jack and directing him what to do if the boat was swamped. 
As for the rest of it, it was a mere matter of getting wet ; we have 
frogged it over such places before, and have learned enough about 
that kind of sand to prevent us from trusting our feet to its grip.” 
And then returning to his question, Dick repeated, only more earn- 
estly than before ; “ What do you mean by justice. Captain Moline, 

when you speak of poor Boggs?” 

" His name was Clancy,” replied the captain, insensibly yielding 
to Dick’s persistent and imperious manner. 

“ Clancy ! How did you find that out ?” 

Then the captain rehearsed what is already known, and the account 
so overwhelmed both boys that they were stupefied for several 
moments. 

“ I don’t care if it is all true,” cried Jack, impulsively, at last, his 
breast still heaving with the force of his sympathy for the dead 
man, “ he ought to have had another chance for himself, and 
Captain Lanier and the rest of you ought to have given it to 
him.” 

“ Ah, lad,” said the surgeon, deeply moved by this revelation of 
the generosity of unfrosted youth, " none of us could help himself. 
When men put the noose of wrong about their necks, sooner or later 
they must feel its grip. And since a higher power than ours has 
settled the fate of that man, we must put our hands upon our mouths 
in silence.” 

“ I think that you are right,” Dick said, slowly, beginning 
to see that the living could not be blamed for the fate of the 
dead. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


247 


When they returned to the station, the boys went to their room to 
change their wet clothes, but Moline and the surgeon went directly 
to Lanier, who, greatly to the astonishment and distress of his wife, 
had just finished telling her of the discovery of the slayer of his 
brother in the person of the preserver of the two who were so near 
and dear to himself. 

•• Where is that man ?” the captain asked. 

“ He has gone up to the highest tribunal,” said the surgeon. 

“What? Dead?” 

“Yes, Captain Lanier,” said the surgeon, “but not by suicide. 
That his sin should have found him out even here was too much 
for the mind that was already enfeebled by constant remorse, and he 
became suddenly insane. All the circumstances are so remark- 
able and so perplexing that, although I am seldom given to quoting 
Scripture,! cannot refrain from recalling those significant words: 

‘ Vengeance is mine ; I will repay, saith the Lord,’ ” And, contin- 
uing, he gave a minute account of the manner of the man’s death, 
not omitting the details of the boys’ perilous attempt to save him 
from the sands. 

Both the captain and his wife were much affected, and while she 
was weeping with her face covered, he, awed by the course of 
events, held his peace for some time. At the end of the painful 
silence, he said: “ How passing strange that the destroyer of my 
only brother should have become the preserver of my wife and 
child ! It would have been exceedingly trying for me to have gone 
into court against him. and. all the more so, after learning what 
he suffered, and what he proposed to do to atone for his crime. 
Perhaps it is best as it is ; yet it is a terrible ending for a life 
that might have reached both usefulness and honor. His career 
might have been vastly different but for the influence of his 
father’s business, for, so far as my observation goes, brewers’ sons 
average as badly in their characters as beer-drinking does in its gen- 
eral results.” 

On looking among the few effects left by the unfortunate man — 
effects which had been saved when he was saved from the wreck 


248 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


the year preceding, they found a small bundle of letters carefully 
wrapped in oil-silk. These letters, bearing dates preceding the 
commission of his crime, bore the address, Jared Clancy. Six 
were from his mother, and four from the young lady to whom 
he was engaged to be married, and all breathed sentiments of the 
highest love. 

Captain Lanier became so feverish and unmanned from the effect 
of the excitement, that the surgeon did not leave him until more 
than a week had passed. 



DUNE DALE, THE HOUSE 
THAT DICK AND 
JACK BUILT 

HE Lanier-Clancy reve- 
lation had such a dis- 
astrous effect upon Dick 
and Jack’s spirits that 
they lost all interest in 
their usual amusements 
and employments, and 
roamed about in such a 
disconsolate way, that 
both Moline and the 
giant felt quite uneasy 
about them. 

On one occasion when 
the boys were riding up 
the beach in a listless 
way a conversation oc- 
curred which showed 
into what kind of channels their thoughts were persistently running. 

Jack abruptly asked : " Dick, do you think that preaching does 

anybody any good ?” 


240 


250 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


Dick was startled, for that was almost the very question that was 
puzzling his own mind. Being loth to have it known, however, that 
such was the case, he chose, tor the time being, at least, to receive 
the idea as a novelty, and he returned it to Jack with another ques- 
tion, saying : “ What in the world put that into your head ?” 

Well, it’s just this way ; We have lived in a minister’s family 
all our days, and have listened to preaching all our lives. Father 
has told us, again and again, to be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow 
to wrath. He said that we were such peppery fellows, that if we 
didn’t keep our Carolina tempers bridled, they’d get us into lots of 
trouble before we got through. Why, the very last time we sat with 
him, under the shadow of the Witch of Endor, and you and I were 
spatting about the marbles we were playing with beach pebbles, don’t 
you remember what he said to us?” 

"Yes, I remember his very words, but I am sure that he got them 
out of the Bible ; this is what he said : • He that is slow to anger is 
better than the mighty, and he that ruleth his spirit than he that 
taketh a city.’ ” 

" Exactly! and that’s the kind of thing that has been ding-danged 
into us by sledge-hammer ever since we were born ; yet, when 
Boggs — I mean Clancy, poor fellow — laid the whip upon my cheek, 

1 was within a hair of blazing the life out of him.” 

" So was I, Jack, and, to tell the truth, that was one of the 
things I was thinking of when you blurted that question at me 
just now.” 

"Well, then, if all father’s preaching has done us no more good 
than that, what’s the use of preaching, anyway. I’d like to know? 
Clancy killed Captain Lanier’s brother in a fit of anger, and that is 
the very thing we came so near doing to Clancy when we got so mad 
at him.” 

" But we didn’t do it 1” Dick exclaimed, with a choking gasp, pro- 
duced by the acuteness of the remembrance. " Yet, when my gun 
flew to my shoulder, I meant to fire without giving further warning ; 
the sight of the blood spurting from your cheek knocked the sense 
clean out of me.” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


251 


'* What prevented you from firing, Dick?” 

“ I saw father’s face between me and Clancy as distinctly as 1 over 
saw it in my life ; that is why 1 didn’t fire.” 

“ What if Clancy had struck again ?” 

“ But he didn’t — and that ended it.” 

“ When you say that you saw father’s face, you mean that you re- 
membered it, don't you?” 

“Yes, 1 suppose I do.” 

“ Well, that is just what kept me from firing ; his face and his way 
of reproving, I remembered like a flash, and that is what held me 
back. But what are you smiling at? 1 don’t see anything to laugh 
at. We were both just mad enough for anything ” 

“ I guess all this bang-whanging and preaching is good for som.e- 
thing, after all. Jack, and it makes me smile to think how we have 
tumbled upon the fact. We were mad — dangerously mad, and it 
was father’s teaching and example that kept us from the thing 
that would have ruined us for life, and darkened home for all 
time.” 

“Why, that’s so, isn’t it?” and now jack was also smiling with 
satisfaction, as he added : “ I guess that, after all, preaching is good 
for something, and I’m glad 1 can think so.” 

They had now reached that part of the beach where the larger 
part of the wreckage of the Aberdeen had come ashore, and, much 
relieved by their escape from a very troublesome question, they dis- 
mounted and began to rove among the heaps of stuff scattered 
around them. 

When one thing goes out of the mind something else is sure to 
come in to take its place, and jack said : “ Look here, Dick, it is 

getting to be so warm and comfortable about here now, we might go 
to work and build a sort of a summer cottage out of that cabin 
stuff, and then come up here and camp out. It will give us some- 
thing to do, and the Laniers can have the Maskomet to themselves, 
which will be better for them and better for us. Furniture would not 
cost us anything, seeing there is so much of it lying about waiting 
for anybody to pick it up.” 


252 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


Dick caught at the idea so quickly, and with such enthusiasm, 
that they drove back to the station to lay the plan before Captain 
Moline. 

Moline encouraged them, and assured them that the whole station 
kit of tools should be at their disposal, and that they might build 
either a castle or a cottage, just as they pleased, 

“ And may we boss the whole of it ourselves ?” Jack asked. 

“ Most certainly. And if anybody presumes to offer you so much 
as a single suggestion, we’ll fine him a penny and dock him on his 
tea or coffee for a whole day.” 

Jumps was standing by. and, overjoyed to think that his boy-friends 
were ready for something new, he said : “ Ven dot house vas pe 

vixed, she vas hafe dose chairs mit dem dables und zofas, und efery 
udder thing vat she don’t hafe pefore ; und dot gottage vas pe so full of 
vurnichure dot she vill hafe to pust geepin’ it mitin herselluf vor 
dose poys.” 

“ You can lay out a twenty-four by sixteen floor,” said Moline, for- 
getting all about fines and penalties, “ and with a few stout uprights for 
posts, can support a low, rain-shedding roof made of the light wreck- 
age of the Aberdeen’s cabin, and then use some of that canvas that 
has come on shore for your cottage walls. As Jumps says, there 
will be no lack of furniture for you; there is enough of it lying around 
up there to furnish half a dozen castles throughout ; you can have a 
sofa for every wall inside and out.” 

By this time the giant was grinning at the captain and winking 
at the boys as impishly as if he were but a midget of a creature. 

“ What is the matter with you ?” Moline asked, innocently. 

“ Ach, gaptin ! you vas succhest, und succhest, und succhest dill 
your vine vas pe terventy pennies, und all dot dea und covve vat she 
don’t gits vor a veek, don’t it ?” 

Moline was a man who could laugh at his own blunders as heartily 
as most people laugh at the blunders of others, and seeing how he 
had broken his own rule before it was cold from his lips, he frankly 
owned up and said; " You see, boys. I'm shutting off others from 
giving you advice so that 1 can do all the giving myself. But, really. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


253 


I was so mucn in earnest about steering you, that I forgot all about 
the compass 1 had stowed in the binnacle for myself. Jumps has 
my authority for enforcing the fine, which he can use for the purchase 
of a peanut treat, you know.” 

“ Dot beanudt dreat vas git here ven ve vas stop dot sucches- 
tion right ervay, gaptin.” remarked the giant, with another succes- 
sion of grins. 

But the boys acted upon the captain's hints, and went to work 
with such a will that in three days the cottage, built between two 
small dunes, on a little point that commanded a wide view, was ready 
for the bush which Jack brought from the station and nailed upon the 
gable fronting the sea. 

Jumps was on hand to witness the nailing of the bush, and the 
boys said to him : “ We have named the cottage Dune Dale.” 

“ Tune Tale vas as goot as Dick Jack vor dot name, und right 
ervay she vas pe so habby ven dose poys vas mitin her dot she vas 
say, • come mitin,’ to eferypody vat she looks at.” And the giant 
came near walking his big legs off, so anxious was he to inspect the 
premises from every possible point of view. 

The boys tacked one of the royalsails of the Aberdeen on the floor, 
thus covering all the cracks between the planking, and forming a 
carpet that was thick and neat. They brought in. from one of the 
heaps of furniture stacked upon the upper beach a heavily carved 
walnut bedstead that was big enough to accommodate the entire 
family of the “ Old Woman That Lived in a Shoe.” By search- 
ing for its companion pieces, they discovered a spring mattress 
sufficiently large to fill the space that yawned between the sides. 
With this foundation laid, there was no difficulty in getting to- 
gether enough of other fittings to furnish a bed that, though 
some of the coverings were scarcely in keeping with the sur- 
rounding framework, was yet decent enough to prevent the boys 
from lying awake. 

In another corner they placed a what-not, surmounted with a 
statuette of Shakespeare, whose nose had been knocked off before 
he was allowed to land on the island. A big oaken buffet, with fat. 


254 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


round-swelling front ornamented with carvings, was put in the third 
corner. They thought of putting a heavy walnut secretary in the re- 
maining corner, but it proved to be so unwieldly, and, withal, so 
badly scarred by the surf and blistered by the sun, they reserved it 
for firewood. 

There was such a profusion of other furniture at their disposal, 
they were as much embarrassed as a newly-wedded couple turned 
loose into a furniture warehouse. But they put a big, eliptical ma- 
hogany table in the center of the room, and, for the rest, brought in 
six plush parlor chairs, two great mahogany rockers and an enormous 
tete-a-tete, which last they installed on the side opposite the bed. 
All these pieces were rather the worse for surf and weather, but, as 
Dick said, this saved them from appearing green at the business, 
and gave the respectability that comes from age 

Back of this “sumptuously” furnished room the boys constructed 
a lean-to for kitchen uses. When all was done. Jack could not sup- 
press the satisfaction he experienced, and he exclaimed, jubilantly : 
“ If Job could have gotten as good a place as this after his house 
was blown down, he would have thanked the Lord and taken 
courage.” 

Dick laughed, as he said : “ Why, Jack, you talk almost as piously 
as Deacon Snowden, of Yarmouth.” 

“ Well, it’s good enough to make one feel as good as a whole 
prayer meeting. If the Lord would only give us a tree or two, we 
could get along without much grumbling. Well, the wild peas are 
beginning to sprout, and we can put some of them in front of the 
veranda and train them up the posts. Only think of it — then we 
shall have blue blossoms without number. And we can transplant a 
lot of the wild strawberry vines and raise all the strawberries we 
want, and, if we knew that we had to stay here till fall, we would get 
some of those huckleberry bushes and go into the huckleberry busi- 
ness. As for hens, we’ll let the gulls furnish all the eggs we want.” 
And Jack saw so many possibilities before them, that he began a 
series of steps not laid down in any dancing book of which we have 
any knowledge up to this date. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


255 


“ Speaking of trees. Jack,” said Dick, “ if the Lord hasn’t any 
real objection to them in this place, there is that stubby old fir tree 
that came ashore in the drift, and that we stuck into the sand down 
at the station ; we can bring it up here and put it in front of our ver- 
anda, you know.” 

“ You are chaffing, now; but we’ll have it up here, anyhow, for it 
is handsome even in the skeleton, and so round, thick and beauti- 
fully shaped every way, that it will do our eyes good to have it 
in sight.” 

When Jumps looked in upon them for the first time after they had 
everything in order, he stood in the middle of the room and, pivoting 
himself upon his feet, made a complete revolution, and surveyed 
every object in sight. 

“ Mein grr — rra--shuss!” he exclaimed, I vas nodt git on dot 
zofa pefore mein drouzers vas bulled down mit dose poots. If mein 
kirl vas here. I vas set so glose mit her dot I vas giss her und den 
her vas giss me some more pesides.” 

“Why, Jumps, did you ever do any courting — did you ever really 
kiss a girl?” Jack asked. 

" Nein! Only vonce ven 1 vas gissed dot, vat you call guzzen, 
und pooty qvick I don’t do it any more. Her vas slapped me so 
hart mein hetvasveels like dot pell vat rings so loudt in der sdeeple. 
Nein ! She vas nodt giss no guzzens some more.” 

The two dunes nearest the cottage looked so bare. Jack com- 
plained of them to Jumps, who said : “ Veil, you vas soon vix dot 

py vaitin’ dill dose bettikotes vas git here.” 

“ What do you mean ?” 

“ Der bea vines vas pe here pefore longs, und den she hafe dem 
bettikotes mit green und blue, vat look like she vas made in 
Himmel.” 

Topsy and Turvy at first protested against being removed from 
the comfortable shade of the Maskomet’s hold, but when a 
wooden awning was erected for their benefit at Dune Dale, they 
adopted their new quarters without complaint, and were all the morq 


256 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


contented because the Bernard visited them and the boys more or 
less every day. 

When one thing more was done, the cottage outfit would be com- 
plete : a plank floor to their kitchen was what the boys now resolved 
upon laying without delay. Picking up enough of drift planking to 
answer their purpose, they immediately began to prepare a founda- 
tion of level sand upon which the planks could be evenly laid. This 
required the removal of about eighteen inches of beach grass hum- 
mocks, a no slight task, because the roots went down so deeply. In 
one place where they had to cut down about two feet, they struck an 
obstacle that appeared to be a fragment of old decking, which had 
come ashore from some old wreck. But, great was their surprise, 
when, on striking it with the axe. they discovered that there was a 
hollow space below. 

“ Good conscience!” exclaimed Dick, “ I hope that we have not 
run afoul of a coffin ; anyway, we’ll see all there is to be seen, even 
if it’s a dune ghost.” 

Cutting a hole through the obstruction, they were still more aston- 
ished to find that the cavity below extended farther than they had 
dreamed of. 

“ Fetch me a candle.” said Dick, excitedly. 

When this was brought, he stuck it into a split of a stick and thrust 
it down into the darkness, and. by this means, discovered that the 
cavity was an unmistakable room of some kind. 

“ There is our cellar,” said Jack, triumphantly, ‘‘ already walled up, 
and waiting for our apples, potatoes, turnips, cabbages, pumpkins and 
provisions and goodies of every sort and description. If a donation 
party would only come along and shovel things in there as they used 
to shovel them into father's cellar in Yarmouth, we’d get Jumps to 
come up here and play ‘ Yankee Doodle ’ for us • right ervay, pooty 
qvick.’ as he is so fond of saying.” 

. But Dick was thinking of other things. He knew that Sable 
Island, from the very first dawn ot ocean navigation, had been the 
graveyard of vessels. This much he had learned from the surgeon, 
who was well acquainted with the history of the island, and with the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


257 


s-urveys and reports sent out from the marine department of the 
Provinces. There was no telling how many boats, schooners and 
larger vessels were buried up in the sands. Almost every gale of 
wind unearthed some buried relic of the past — anchors, chains, masts, 
ribs of vessels, sharks, whales and other sea monsters. The surgeon 
had told him that the island was slowly shifting its position — moving 
northward, as it were. The south of the island was cut into by the cur- 
rents of the sea, and every now and then some forgotten wreck was 
disentombed and washed away ; while many vessels that had gone 
down on the north side of the island were being covered up by the 
accumulating sand. The process was visibly going on in the case of 
hulks still in sight. The Maskomet was gathering the sand about 
her like a white shroud, and it was only a question of time when she 
should disappear from sight altogether. Dick had thought of her 
more than once as finally having a dune gathered over her for a 
grave mound. He was naturally curious about such things, and while 
Jack, in the exuberance of his spirits, was rattling on about cellars, 
thinking of the hurly-burly of parsonage donations — those sacred dis- 
sipations, consecrated makeshifts and holy abominations in which so 
many milk-and-water professors, and so many manikin ministers 
take such infantile jack-in-the-box, nickle-in-the-slot and penny- 
halleluia delight — Dick was thinking of the vast changes wrought by 
the irresistible forces of Nature. He had, in fact, just lifted his head 
above the fogs of mere boyish dreams, and gotten his first and some- 
what startling view of the real world. 

"This is a very strange thing,” he said; " we have built Dune 
Dale over the deck of a sand-covered wreck. We will keep our dis- 
covery to ourselves, at least, for a while, and see what we can find 
below us. Go and keep a good lookout while I enlarge the hole 
and make it big enough for us to descend ; and while you are keep- 
ing watch, when 1 have made the cutting, I will arrange the planks 
we have pulled in here so that they can be laid over the opening at 
a moment’s warning. 1 will also put one down into the cavity so 
that we can descend by it, and will get candles and matches, and a 


258 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


hatchet and hammer, so that when I whistle for you we can go down 
and explore.” 

There was no interruption, and, when all the arrangements were 
completed, the boys lighted a candle, and Dick, going: down first on 
the slanting plank, directed Jack, before he left the opening, to pull 
one of the loose pieces over it so that it would be concealed should 
anybody come in while they were below. 

They landed on a floor of sand, and wishing to know how deep it 
was, for there was six feet of space over their heads, Dick hurried 
up again and got a sand shovel, with which, when he got below 
again, he dug through about two feet of sand to a level floor of wood. 
On making a search they found themselves in a room nine feet wide, 
by sixteen in length ; it was a cabin, finished in a style unlike any- 
thing the boys had ever seen in the vessel line. The wood was 
time-stained and damp ; but, with the exception of a few cracks and 
a bulging line here and there, was in a good state of preservation. 

While they were lifting their candle to look at the ceiling they 
heard footsteps on the planking over the entrance, and they blew out 
their light and kept silent. 

Presently they heard Jumps’ voice saying, m.uch to their amuse- 
ment ; “ Dose poys vas nodt anyvheres. I pet she vas gone mit 

dose kuns down mit dot lake vor more tucks. Dis blum-tuff vat I 
prings vas hafe to vait dill she vas git pack some more. Ach ! put 
dis gitchen she makes vas petter nor dot vun at dot station. Ven 
she hafe dot stove up mit dot bipe, she vas make his own blum-tuff 
ever so goot as mein, und I vas daste it vor him und say it vas goot 
as vat Jumps makes.” 

A snuffing noise at the cracks between the planks indicated that 
the Bernard was on the track of things below, and that the boys 
were in danger of being discovered. Jumps suspected nothing, how- 
ever, and they heard him call the dog and depart. 

Plum-duff was not made every day, but Jumps had just achieved 
an especially good one, which he was anxious for the boys to test, 
so he had brought a big bowl of it over for their benefit. Not find- 
ing them, he put it in the center of the mahogany table, where it 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


259 


Would be sure to attract their attention when they returned. 
He went away whistling in great content over the generosity of his 
good-will. 

But the Bernard remained behind to satisfy himself about the 
mystery under those two planks. In a trice he pulled the planks 
aside, and, hearing the breathing of the boys below, threw himself 
down the opening with such headlong precipitation that he landed 
squarely on Jack, and almost flattened him into a pancake as he and 
his victim rolled over in the sand. 


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NUTS! NUTS! HERE’S NUTS! 


AS the roof of the old hole 
tumbled in ?” Jack asked, as 
soon as he could disgorge 
some of the sand he had ship- 
ped into his mouth in the 
tumble. 

Bingo, taking the words for 
an encouragement, reared 
his ponderous form, and 
putting his forefeet against 
jack’s shoulders, knocked 
him down for the second 
time. 

Good gracious, Dick ! 
Have we fallen into the 
lion’s den, or has the lion’s den 
fallen into us ?” 

" If you will light your candle, 
you will find out for yourself,” 
Dick replied, grinning in the 
darkness with as much liberality of face as though he were saluting 
an audience before the footlights. 

“ Candle ? Why, that has gone to Jericho to see if it can find 
another Good Samaritan. Light yours and you may find mine 
before it gets too far on the way.” 


262 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


When Dick struck his light he found that Bingo was making a 
mouthful of the lost candle, which he had picked up from the sand. 
" Drop that, you scoundrel," said he, “ do you think you are in a 
butcher’s shop because you have found a tallow dip ? You didn’t 
fall far enough to reach any fresh beef.” 

The dog sheepishly dropped the sweet morsel, and. by way of 
apology, also dropped himself into the sand. 

“ Now, hold this light while 1 use the shovel,” Dick said, as he 
passed the candle to Jack. At the first stroke of the shovel he struck 
something metallic, which, on being brought to the surface, proved 
to be a handsomely hilted dagger firmly rusted into what had once 
been an elaborately ornamented sheath. 

" What sort of a beginning do you call that — is it good or bad ?” 
jack asked. 

We can tell better when we have reached the end ; but at any 
rate it is a sign that we should go over this floor carefully. I will 
begin there at the other end and shovel crosswise the whole width 
of the cabin, and then we can go over the whole floor strip by strip, 
so that if there’s anything else in the sand we shall be sure to find 
it. It will take time, but everybody has plenty of time on Sable 
Island, and we might as well be doing this as anything else. It is 
rather funny, though, that we should find a dagger in such a place as 
this, and such an old one as that is.” 

They discovered nothing more in the first strip they dug, save two 
small, white bones, which they were not bonologists enough to class- 
ify. But, in the next strip, they turned up a big, old-fashioned, flint- 
lock horse pistol and two equally ancient flintlock guns. 

After examining and hefting them. Jack exclaimed: “What 
blundering big things they are ! Must belong to the blunderbuss 
family of arms. Say, Dick, I’d like to know what sort of a ship we 
have shipped aboard of now. Strikes me that she beats the Masko- 
met out of sight.” 

“ Put those things, bones and all, by themselves,” was Dick’s re- 
ply, “ and remember, that if you ask too many questions, you’ll not 
be likely to get an answer to any of them.” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


263 


The words were scarcely out of his mouth, when he turned up the 
head of a boarding pike, and, immediately after this, a stubby side- 
sword with a fragment of a sword belt attached, and two vessels, which, 
at first, they took to be half-gallon measures. These last were of 
such a peculiar, and. withal, of such a really handsome shape, that 
Dick, with an exclamation of surprise, threw down his shovel that he 
might examine them to better advantage. 

Answering his own first impressions. Dick said, after noticing the 
lids, the handles and the raised ornaments on the sides, and also the 
weight: “These are not half-gallon measures, but genuine old 
drinking cups — tankards — that we have read about.” 

“ Regular tanks, and no mistake,” said Jack, who was bubbling 
over with m.ischief. If that’s the size of the drinking cups their 
owners used to drink out of. I’d like to know how big their hog- 
troughs were.” 

As the metal was smooth, though much darkened with age, Dick, 
tingling with expectation, tapped the cups with a smart blow of the 
hasp of his knife, and elicited a sound so clear and tinkling, a 
strong imagination might have taken it for the echo of the music of 
ancient revelry. 

“ By Jove, jack! these tankards are as surely silver as those two 
bones are bones.” Handing the vessels to Jack, he added: “The 
fellows who had such things as those would be likely to have other 
things in the same line.” He was interrupted by the appearance of 
a third drinking cup, a little smaller than the other two, and the frag- 
ments of what appeared to be a small table. Then followed other 
fragments of the former furniture of the cabin. After removing 
these, he came upon a pile of bones, of whose nature he had his 
suspicions, as did Jack also. Dick intended to keep his thoughts to 
himself, and pushed on in his work, removing the sand carefully, so 
as to leave the relics as nearly in their original position as pos- 
sible. When he had laid bare a skull. Jack, terrified by the sight, 
exclaimed : 

“ For Heaven’s sake, Dick, let’s get out of this as soon as 
we can 1” 


264 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


" Don’t be foolish, Jack,” said Dick, explosively, “ there is noth- 
ing about those bones that you need be afraid of. Why can’t you 
be consistent? After the great storm we had here, in which the old 
whale was torn to pieces, you went through the jaws of the old fellow 
and skipped about among his ribs and other bones as frisky as if you 
were a kitten playing with balls of yarn. If you were not afraid of 
the bones of such a big thing as a whale, why should you be afraid of 
the bones of such a small thing as a human being?” 

" A fellow had the whole sun to back him up there,” Jack retorted, 
“ but here there is only a candle. Go ahead, if you are so set about it ; 

1 can stand it if you can.” Ridicule always had the effect of put- 
ting Jack on his mettle, especially when it came from Dick as an 
aspersion on his courage. 

Let us condense the account of the succeeding discoveries among 
the bones. There were three skeletons, which fell apart the moment 
the supporting sand was removed, and many of the fragments were 
so much decayed that they crumbled at a touch. One skeleton had 
a hole in the skull ; this one laid by itself. The other two appeared 
to be locked together ; the skull of one of these was crushed in as if 
by a blow from some blunt instrument. The bones of one hand were 
locked around the handle of an old-fashioned, unwieldy pistol, such 
as has already been described, while close to the hand of the under- 
lying skeleton, lay a murderous, unsheathed instrument, which looked 
like a cross between a dagger and a short sword. 

The positions and accompaniments were such that the tragedy was 
self-evident, Dick had his thoughts, but kept them under lock ; Jack 
had his, as well, but turned the key and let them out. 

“ Why, Dick, there has been murder here !” 

“ Yes ; a fight of some kind,” And while the chills were running 
down his back, and to offset Jack’s renewed fears, Dick grimly 
added: "But it happened so long ago, we’ll not be suspected of 
having had any hand in it.” 

" If you are going to be such a cucumber of a fellow as all that.” 
said Jack, considerably nettled, " 1 think that 1 can be as cool as 
you ; so you needn’t bring along any more of your ice.” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


265 


“ Stick to that, then, and don’t be thinking ot bogies all the time. 
Those fellows have been dead so long they can’t trouble us. Here, 
hold this shovel, while I throw these bones into a heap by themselves, 
and see what there is below them. Hold the candle nearer, so that 
I can see.” 

While removing the ghastly relics, Dick picked up two large, plain 
rings, and three jewelled rings, which glistened in the light quite 
brilliantly; there was also a large oval, closed locket with small chain 
attached. It was easy to understand that all these trinkets had be- 
longed to the ornaments of the. persons whose bones had come to 
light. Putting these in his pocket, Dick next disclosed a small 
casket clasped in a skeleton hand, and close by there was the edge 
of a large iron box. 

“ Here, Jack, hold on to this casket while I dig out that box,” 
said Dick, in a voice so changed by his excitement, that it seemed 
the voice of another person. Jack, himself, being under a similar 
tension of feeling, received the box in silence, and held it under one 
arm, while he bent over so as to throw the candle-rays more directly 
upon Dick’s work. 

When the second box was uncovered it was found to be resting 
against a third, which was somewhat smaller, and stacked around 
this were many pieces of plate, which had to be removed before the 
other boxes could be fully cleared of the sand around them. When 
the plate, two hundred and eleven pieces in number, was put in a 
heap by itself, Dick, perspiring hotly, and almost overcome with 
work and excitement, said, huskily: “ Here, Jack, let’s sit down and 
rest awhile, this job is getting altogether too big for both mind and body. 
We must think things over a little. But, first, stick your candle into 
the sand there, and put that small box down by it and let us see 
whether these boxes are empty or full.” 

They were barely able to turn the boxes over on their sides, they 
were so heavy. In the turning they detected a metallic click insid<=^, 
which started their imaginations off on the wildest of flights, though 
neither of them was at first inclined to say much. 

Before sitting down, Dick reached for the casket Jack held, and 


266 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


began to examine it by the light of the candle, while Jack looked 
eagerly on. Small as it was. it was quite heavy, and on shaking it. 
though it was evidently quite full, a slight tinkling sound was heard. 
It was so verdigrised, it was plain that the metal was either copper 
or brass. There was a small key-hole, full of rust, and the connec- 
tion between the cover and box was nearly obliterated by verdigris. 

While they were turning the box over and over, the Bernard sat 
on his haunches by their side and watched their operations with so 
much intelligence and interest, that Jack, forgetting himself, said ; 
“ Look here Dick, ought Bingo to be here while we are making these 
discoveries?” 

Dick was so struck with the absurdity of the question, that he 
laughed outright, and this encouraged Bingo to give a low, responsive 
bark, which, however, he immediately cut short, as if conscious that 
his silence would be more acceptable than his noise. 

" You are so excited. Jack, you don’t know what you are saying. 
1 don’t know how much thinking Bingo is doing, but I rather think 
that he doesn’t know enough of the English language to blow on us, 
however much disposed he might be to do it. But even if he could 
speak he’d keep mum if we ordered him to. Now, I am going to 
try to get into this box with my jack-knife.” 

Better take mine, Dick.” 

'■ Why?” 

" Because mine is a jack-knife and no mistake,” and, laughing at 
his own punning, jack handed his knife to Dick, who had th^ knife 
at work some seconds before the point of the joke penetrated his 
head. His laugh was so far behind its cause, that Jack, supposing 
that it was connected with something else, asked; “ What are you 
laughing at ?” 

“ At you, of course ; that was pretty good for a fellow who has 
been scared nearly out of his wits ever since we began to turn things 
over, here.” 

“ If you had waited a little longer, you would have forgotten what 
there was to laugh about.” 

Jack was prevented from further comment by Dick’s rapid prog- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


267 


ress toward the discovery of the contents of the box. Finding the 
lines of the cover, and, inserting his knife, the metal, eaten nearly 
through by the verdigris, yielded quickly to Dick’s efforts, and the 
cover was removed entire, revealing an inner envelop of some ma- 
terial that had long since become but a covering of black, dusty 
mold. When Dick had carefully skinned this away, there was such 
a gleam of reflected lights from the contents that he came near 
dropping the box into the sand at his feet. Quick to recover him- 
self, however, and now fully understanding the purport of the reflec- 
tions, he breathed so gaspingly that Jack, in alarm, asked : 

What is the matter with you, Dick ? Do you feel sick ?” 

“ Matter, Jack ! Do you know what’s in that box ?” 

It was now Jack’s turn to breathe quickly, as the fact began to 
dawn upon him. “ You — you — don’t mean — no — it can’t be pos- 
sible — to say that that is a box of jewels !” 

•• I don’t know very much about gems, but I know enough to know 
that there is a big fortune in that box. And, furthermore, 1 know 
that this hulk is so old that there is no living soul in all this world 
who has a better right to this than you and I.” 

The truth was so self-evident and so stupendous, withal, that Jack, 
overwhelmed, found his very exclamations sticking in his throat like 
fishbones, and so there was nothing for him to do but to relieve him- 
self with a good, wet cry. And Dick himself was so sympathetically 
affected that it was sometime before he could trust himself to speak. 

Bingo, disturbed by these signs, and failing to understand that boys 
could cry for joy, as well as for grief, flattened himself at Dick’s feet 
and vented a long, deep sigh, which ended in just the faintest inti- 
mation of a sympathetic whine. 

Dick was of a very executive turn of mind, and immediately real- 
izing that it was not a time for tears, he sharply interrupted the senti- 
mental aspects of the situation, and said : “ Just hold that box for a 
moment — hold it very carefully, you know, for 1 have a suspicion 
that these other boxes are full of money, and that that plateware and 
stuff is, at the least, silver. The boxes, we cannot attend to just 
now, but we can settle about the plate.” 


268 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


Getting together several of the pieces and examining them closely, 
by striking them with the knife handle and scraping their edges with 
the blade, he said: “Jack, those pieces are not only handsome in 
shape, but they are valuable in material — silver and gold, as sure as 
my name is Dick. They would have corroded and rusted into noth- 
ing long before this if they were not. If I am correct in this, there 
is a fortune in that plate alone, and the next serious puzzle is, what 
are we to do with all this stuff ?” 

“ Do with it? Why, we are going to take it home with us. and 
just shovel it upon father and mother, and have them make tracks 
from Black Point as fast as they can go. ^ And they shall have a 
house with twenty rooms in it, and mother shall have servants and 
have nothing to do but to tell them what to do. And father shall 
preach, or not, just as he pleases ; and if he does preach, he can 
preach without having to take up any more penny collections for 
himself; and for the rest of us, we’ll get all the freckles off of our 
faces, and put on decent clothes, and stuff ourselves with books, 
and ” 

“ Hold on there, with your and — ands, jack, or you’ll get swamped 
worse than any of the wrecks that have been swamped in the waters 
about this island. Remember that it’s easier talking than doing 
about this stuff we have got on our hands. The trouble will be to 
get it away from the island, not to say anything about holding on to 
it while we are here. But, before we borrow trouble, let us finish 
our examination ; we will decide what is the first best thing to do 
after we have turned over the rest of that sand and uncovered the 
rest of the secrets of this old craft. There is a little shelf there on 
that side of the cabin, and I will put this box of gems up there till we 
get through.” 

The skeleton group found upon the floor, proved to be the center 
of interest ; beyond this, nothing of any great consequence was found. 
There were many old guns and other implements of death, most of 
which had fallen from racks, traces of which could still be seen on 
the side walls. The lockers and berths were all searched, but, be- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


269 


sides the mold of decayed clothing and bedding, and instruments 
connected with navigation, there was nothing else. 

When the search was completed, Jack, whose active mind had all 
the while been busy with the whys and hows of things, asked : ‘ What 
do you make of it, Dick? What sort of a craft was this? How 
came these things to be piled up under those skeletons ? And how 
did the vessel come to be where she is?” 

“ Belay there. Jack, or you’ll have a catechism longer than any of 
those father has got among his books. But I’ll tell you what I think 
about this craft. She was wrecked here probably a hundred or a 
hundred and fifty years ago ; everything here tells of old times. 
Since she came here the beach has crept up to her, and the very 
dunes have risen around her. It is plain that she wasn’t a merchant 
vessel : she carried too many arms for that. She couldn’t have been 
a man of war, for a regular man of war wouldn’t be carrying such 
plunder as we have discovered. I don't believe that she was a 
privateer, either, for a privateer wouldn’t be likely to pick up such 
things — not unless she cruised all over the world. I believe that this 
craft was a buccaneer or pirate, such as used to rove the seas and 
rob everything they could overtake. That book of father's — • Stories 
of the Seas ’ — that we used to read so much, told all about the high- 
waymen of the ocean, and how they thought nothing of trips to Cen- 
tral and South America, and to the East as well as to the West 
Indies. The arms we have found here are just like some of those 
described in that book.” 

“ But that doesn’t explain things as we have found them in this 
cabin.” said Jack. 

“ They explain themselves, I think, at least, in part. When the 
vessel struck here, the first thing the officers would think of would 
be to save their plunder, and that is why it was placed together on 
the cabin floor. The three skeletons may be the bones of the three 
principal officers of the vessel. Something led to a quarrel. One 
of them was shot, that is plain, and it is just as plain that another was 
killed by a blow on the head, and I believe that that blow was given 
with the butt-end of that big pistol after it had killed the first man. 


270 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


That pistol was near the right hand of the man who held the casket 
in his left hand, who, because of some new and sudden danger to the 
vessel, was going to look out for number one, just as the others were 
trying to do. He probably was stabbed to death by that short sword, 
and so all three lost their lives in the quarrel. It is very singular 
that they should all be in a heap together, with the plunder so near 
them. Something must have happened suddenly, or they would not 
have been where we found them, nor would the valuables have been 
left here if the other men on board had had a chance to get away 
with them. 1 believe that not a man of the crew outlived the wreck.” 

Jack listened to every word of this long explanation as receptively 
as if it were law and gospel combined, and when Dick stopped, he 
said ; “ That seems as straight and plain as father’s explanations of 

Revelation — and is almost as scary. It is awful to think that we 
have pitched Dune Dale right over a pirate vessel, with skeletons 
and all that sort of thing on board. We’ll have to tear the whole 
thing down again and build it somewhere else.” 

Dick laughed. “ If we had not come here,” he said, “ and put up 
our cottage, we should not have found these things ; and if we don’t 
stay here now, how are we going to conceal them till we decide what 
we are to do ? 1 am a good deal more afraid of the folks who are 

alive than I am of those who are dead. That last wreck has brought 
strangers to the island that we don’t know anything about. Treas- 
ures are not picked up every day, and if they knew what was here 
there might be trouble.” 

“ We have got a big rock on our shoulders,” said Jack, beginning 
to see some of the difficulties surrounding their position, 

“ Yes : a mighty big one, and we have got to keep our heads 
level. This is what we have got to do : Make a canvas belt for 
each one of us and sew the stones in, and not let a living sou! know 
anything about them till we are safe back to Black Point again. Do 
you understand ?” 

" Just count on me, Dick.” 

“ When we have done that, before we open the other boxes, we’ll 
call in Darby and McDonald and see what’s in them, and have a 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


271 


council as to the next thing that’s to be done. I am sure that there 
is money in those chests, and that everything we have found belongs 
to us, slick and clear. We can trust those men, and Moline, too. for 
that matter, but we will leave it to the other two to decide about calling 
him in. Now, mum’s the word about the jewels. It will be time 
enough to talk about the ownership when we have seen what is done 
with the other things, the plate ana the chests, which, 1 believe, will 
be decided to be ours without a doubt. Not even Darby or McDon- 
ald are to know anything about the casket. There’ll be no questions 
asked, and so we’ll not have to say anything.” 

“ I see through your ladder, Dick. I’ll not say a word above 
ground till we get plum home again.” 

“ Stick to that, and we’ll get home with flying colors. We will 
leave things here, now, and come down again between nine and ten 
o’clock and make our belts here, and put the jewels in them and 
then button the ends of the belts around our bodies tight and fast.” 

“ Horrors, Dick! What are you thinking of? You don’t want to 
come among these bones at night, do you ?” 

“ Why not ? Will it be any darker here at night than it has been 
during the time that we have been down here ? Get those bones out 
of your head as quick as you can. If they had done as little mis- 
chief while they were carrying their owners’ flesh as they have done 
since they have been lying here, the spirits that went from them 
probably wouldn’t be having such an uneasy time as they are having 
now. The whole island is a bone yard, so what’s the use of being afraid 
of these, when we are running among skeletons almost everytime we 
go among the dunes or along the beaches?” 

“ You are getting to be as hardened as an old sinner, Dick.” 

"Well, one must have some iron in him in order to get through 
this world, and we need it now as much as we shall ever need it.” 


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KEEPING A SECRET 

T WAS easy for the Bernard 
to get into a hole, but getting 
out was another story. The 
plank was narrow and steep, 
while the dog was broad and 
heavy. Dick reduced the in- 
cline of the pathway as much 
as possible, and then com- 
manded the big intruder to 
make tracks up the still steep 
ascent. 

But Bingo sat down on his 
haunches at the foot of the 
plank, and, while wagging his 
tail quite willingly, looked at 
the boys appealingly, as if he were saying : “ Look here, my young 

masters, you say that this was a pirate craft ; if that was so, nobody 
ever walked a plank from her except to his death ; therefore, I pray 
you have me excused.” 

Failing in their commanding “ go,” the boys experimented with a 
persuasive “ come,” by going up in advance and standing at the head 

373 


274 


DICK AND JACK'S ADVENTURES 


of the plank and inviting him to follow their example ; yet, so far as 
he was concerned, the example spoke no louder than the precept — 
it was a conspicuous failure. Bingo laid down at the foot of the 
plank, choosing the darkness of the hole rather than the light of the 
open air. His looks said as plainly as looks could speak : “ That 

is very fine, young gentlemen ! but you are a pair of up-to-snuff lads, 
while I am an old dog, and it is hard to teach old dogs new tricks. 

I came down without my will, which, as yet, seems to be above 
ground ; if you can find it, and throw it down, I may be able to get 
myself out of this box.” 

The boys pushed down another plank, and Dick, going below, fixed 
it so as to give a wider footing for Bingo’s convenience. At the bot- 
tom Dick said, “ go, you scoundrel at the top Jack called, “ come 
along. Bingo.” Before, the road was narrow and hard to travel ; 
now, it was broad and easy to go. Bingo thought it just the way to 
get along with dogs, or rather, for dogs to get along with boys, and, 
without further demur, dashed up and out. Glad to be relieved from 
the dampness, darkness and mystery which had so long surrounded 
him, he bounded away for the fleshpots of the station without so much 
as even wagging the tip-end of his tail by way of a parting salute. 

When the boys, having concealed the entrance to the cabin, re- 
turned to their room, their appetites were clamorously in evidence. 
The giant’s plum-duff, which they found waiting them in the big bowl 
upon the mahogany center table, was like the manna in the wilder- 
ness; they ate, and were filled. Without making any more ado by 
way of elaborating their dinner, they mounted their ponies and gal- 
loped up the beach for the airing they so much needed. Though 
their minds were full to the brim with their adventures underground, 
and though time and again the subject was on their tongues, they, in 
accordance with their rule, restrained themselves, and succeeded in 
saying — not a word about it. 

It was a wholesome lesson, which they often recalled in later life. 
The hole in the dyke is prevented from becoming larger by keeping 
it persistently plugged. Many a lad mars his future by not bridling 
his lips, as many a man spoils his business by neglecting the same 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


275 


precaution. The open mouth is the national pitfall. The leaky res- 
ervoir never gets full. Gab and gush make a hasty mush. A reef 
in the lip makes a safe trip. 

When the boys went down into the cabin again, they went supplied 
with pliable canvas with which to make their belts, and carried sail- 
maker’s needles and thread with which to do their sewing. Having 
been accustomed to making and mending the sails of their Black 
Point boats, they were at no loss to know how to shape and accom- 
plish their task. The belts were subdivided into numerous small 
pockets to prevent the contents from lumping together, and thus be- 
coming uncomfortable. When dividing the gems, the boys noticed 
that some were large and others small ; some cut and others uncut ; 
some set. but most unset ; besides, they varied greatly in color and 
degrees of brilliancy. When done, the belts were buttoned around 
their waists and they returned to their room, where, finding them- 
selves fatigued and worn, they threw themselves upon their bed with- 
out removing their clothes, and, exhausted by the excitement and 
labors of the day, fell asleep. 

But Dick was uneasy, even in his sleep; Bingo troubled him, and 
he suddenly awoke to ask himself ; “ What if that dog should come 

here before we are up and scratch that hole open again ? It would 
be just like him. I’ll fix him.” And he got out. without waking 
Jack, and scattered the contents of the pepper box upon the sand 
covering the boards that concealed the entrance. 

The precaution was wise. Bingo, curious to know more about that 
hole in the ground, was on hand early in the morning. He was as- 
tonished at what he deemed the treachery of his own senses, tor 
there was not a sign of a hole to be found. Not trusting to his 
eyes, he applied his nose to the ground, and was still more surprised, 
for he had reason to believe that the sand had turned to pepper. All 
thought of the previous day’s experience was knocked out of his 
head by the quantity of pepper he had taken into it through the open- 
ings of his nostrils. The violence of his sneezings prevented his 
meditations from assuming an intrusive shape, and also awoke the 
boys to the rescue. 


276 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


When Dick and Jack went out to him. he was pawing his nose 
with such energy that they could not help laughing, though the tears 
were running from Bingo’s eyes in streams. Yet, true to their rule 
of reticence, they said not a word as to the cause of his early visit, 
and immediately set themselves to the work of getting breakfast. 
Their lack of sympathy was, to Bingo, the unkindest cut of all. 
Could he have done it, he would have called them two brute boys, 
and would have eaten them up. and, in his own language, written 
over their grave the record of his deed, “ Et tu brute.” 

Owing to Lanier’s weakness. Darby and the surgeon were to visit 
him to take his depositions on the Aberdeen and Clancy cases, thus 
saving him the fatigue of the journey to the other end of the island. 
The boys did not know, however, that Mrs. Darby and Clari were 
also expected. 

In the middle of the afternoon, while Dick was taking a nap. Jack 
was on the beach shooting sand pipers for a supper stew. 

Dick’s sleep ended in a dream that threw him upon the crest of a 
seventh wave, by which he was transformed into a life-boat, and then 
pitch-poled end over end toward certain doom. But the seventh wave 
turned into a reality, for Jack had run into the room and was now 
shaking him with all his might, and crying into his very ears : 

"Wake up! Wake up! The Cinderella Carolina is coming down 
the beach under her top-sails, with two women in her and two men 
beside her.” 

By the time the boys had put their room in shape for the recep- 
tion of company, the famous coach was at the front of the veranda, 
and Mrs. Darby and Clari, and the king and the surgeon were in- 
specting the architecture of Dune Dale with as much curiosity as if 
it were the Cathedral of Cologne. The big sofa and chairs upon the 
veranda made too great a strain upon the civility of the visitors, and 
while the ladies smiled, the men laughed loudly. 

The boys, having welcomed them, Dick said, while he was help- 
ing the ladies from their carriage : " If our veranda is such a tickler 
to you. I am afraid that our parlor will kill you outright.” 

The visitors had heard of the furniture lying in stacks upon the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


277 


beach, but were not prepared for the display in the boys’ room. 
Even the surgeon, who, true to his national traits, seldom laughed 
till he had first proved to himself that his mirth was justified by the 
object, waxed so merry over the sight that his boisterousness over- 
came his gentility and carried the others with it through the sheer 
force of sympathetic imitation. 

Since the first selection from the wilderness of furniture on the 
beach, the boys had added other pieces as the fancy took them, so 
that there was scarcely room to move about without stubbing the toe 
against some protruding foot of shipwrecked elegance. What most 
took the queen’s fancy, were two small baby chairs nailed one above 
the other to one of the uprights of the wall. From the room, they 
went to the beach, where selections were made for additions to the 
palace furniture. And, as the visitors were engaged to take tea on 
the Maskomet, and were going directly on, Dick, leaving the queen 
and the princess to Jack’s civilities, called the king and the surgeon 
aside, and said : 

*• It will be necessary for you two to spend the night here at Dune 
Dale. We are in the possession of an important secret which we 
must share with you. If you think it best, you may bring Captain 
Moline with you. Don’t forget that it will be necessary for you to 
stay all night.” 

The two men were puzzled by Dick’s manner, as well as by the 
nature of his request, but, thinking that, perhaps, he and Jack had 
some new light to shed upon the Clancy tragedy, they said they would 
come and bring Moline with them. 

“ You must manage to come,” Dick added, “ without letting any- 
one at the station or on board the Maskomet — not even Mrs. Darby 
herself — know anything about being called here to consider a secret 
affair. We don’t want any outside talk about it.” 

'■ Why, lads,” said Darby, laughing, “ this looks as if you two boys 
were plotting to annex Sable Island to the United States ; but we’ll 
be on hand, and will get away by saying that we are going to have a 
night’s frolic with you boys.” 

The three men arrived at the cottage a little after nine o’clock. 


278 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


and were immediately conducted to the annex* where the covering 
was removed from the entrance to the buried wreck. Lighting 
candles, the boys disappeared below, and directed their visitors to 
follow as quickly as they could and to close the entrance with the 
planks before they left the surface. 

The men, thoroughly astonished, and withal somewhat overawed 
by the pit below, at first hesitated to descend. 

“ There is nothing to hurt you,” said Jack, patronizingly. 

V/hen they reached the bottom they were almost speechless. The 
old woodwork, the stack of ancient arms, the pile of bones, the heap 
of plate, the iron chests, the disturbed sand, the peculiar manner of 
the boys, the musty atmosphere and the gloom.y dimness formed a 
scene that was so strikingly mysterious it would have been oppres- 
sive but for another arrival that served to divert their attention. 

Unknown to them, the Bernard had followed them at a distance, 
and when they had gotten fairly into the cavity, he pulled the cover- 
ing aside and began to work his way slowly down the plank after 
them, exercising the wisdom gained by his former experience. The 
surgeon, whose nerves were already at their highest tension, seeing 
the glare of the brute’s eyes, without being able to distinguish his 
form, uttered a cry of alarm, and this, too, in spite of the contempt 
he was so constantly pouring upon superstition. 

“ My goodness!” exclaimed Jack, irritably, on seeing what Bingo 
was doing, “ there is that confounded dog ! he tumbled down here 
yesterday, but is coming down now as if he were one of us.” Giv- 
ing Bingo a violent push, which rolled him from the plank to the 
bottom. Jack went up and closed the opening, and on returning, said 
to the surgeon, with a laugh : *• You thought he was a real ghost, 

didn’t you ?” 

But the surgeon’s momentary terror having abated, his intelligence 
again asserted itself, and he said ; “ There is an old tradition, backed 
up by a French account of the buccaneers, that about one hundred 
and forty years ago, before there was anybody on this island to look 
after wrecked people, a buccaneer rover was wrecked on Sable Island 
with considerable treasure on board. It is said that only two of the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


279 


crew reached the shore alive, and that by accident they were dis- 
covered in a half-dead condition and taken to the mainland by the 
fisherman who found them. It is more than iikely that we are now 
in the cabin ot that buccaneer.” 

Dick then gave his account of the discovery of the vessel, and of 
their own conjectures, formed after making a thorough examination 
of everything they could find, dwelling especially upon the position of 
the bones, weapons, plate and chests. 

We,” he continued, “ claim all the valuables we have found as 
our own by right of our discovery, and ask you to assist us by testify- 
ing to our discovery and by arranging for the transportation of them 
to the mainland when an opportunity comes for so doing. 

“ 1 think that those chests are full of money, and that the plate we 
have piled up there will be found to be of both silver and gold.” 

Having, in these days, every instance of dishonesty paraded before 
our eyes in the most glaring colors, we are apt to think that honesty 
is forgotten the moment opportunity appears. We say that Roe is 
honest just so long as Doe compels him to be, but the moment Roe 
gets a good chance to rob Doe without being discovered, his honesty 
takes wings and flies away. Yet, there are hundreds of thousands of 
men, some of whom we meet every day, who would die before they 
would sacrifice their integrity, or knowingly retain a dollar that didn’t 
belong to them. 

Happily, for Dick and Jack, the men with whom they were now 
dealing possessed that kind of honesty which is above suspicion — the 
kind of honesty that shines the brightest in the highest furnace blasts 
of temptation. 

In a matter of fact way. Darby said: •• Look here, lads; if we 
had found this stuff it would have been ours — whatever the value 
may be. You have found it and it is yours, and we are bound to 
help you all we can to secure it to you and to help you to get it from 
the island. 

•• We will pay you for all your trouble, and more besides ” but 

Dick was abruptly interrupted by Darby. 

“Tut, tut! lad,” he exclaimea, “that sounds as if you were at- 


280 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


tempting to bribe the king and his advisors. Have a care, or you’ll 
get strung up for high treason.” And, while Dick was turning red 
in the face at the jocular, yet earnest rebuke. Darby, continuing, 
said ; " Let us see what there is here, and whether or no it is worth 
talking about one way or the other. 

“ These chests are full, and, doubtless, with money, or valuables 
of some other kind,” he said, when he and Moline and the surgeon 
had tested their weight. “ There is no sand inside, the chests are 
too tight and solid for that.” 

“ They should be boxed up just as they stand,” said the surgeon. 
And Darby and Moline agreed that this was the best course that 
could be followed. 

“ ‘Where ignorance is bliss, ’tis folly to be wise’ — till you get 
safely on the mainland,” quoted the surgeon, suggestively. 

The examination of the plate, confirmed Dick’s estimate of its 
value — more than confirmed it, for the surgeon said : " So far as 1 can 
make out, this plate is very old, massive. South American Spanish 
plate, and, to all appearance, there is more gold than silver among it. 
Those buccaneers were great haters of the Spaniards, you know, and 
were never happier than when robbing Central and South American 
Spaniards. From their haunts in Jamaica and Trinidad, they went 
south oftener than they came north ; this fellow must have been on the 
track of some treasure ship, or he never would have gotten here. Pos- 
sibly he intended to bury his treasures here, though that is not likely.” 

“ Let me see,” said Moline ; “ that plate will make a heavy box 
by itself, and the sooner we box it up the better. The boys have most 
of the station tools here — had them to build their cottage.” 

“ And plenty of nails and spikes left over,” interrupted Jack. 

“ Then let’s get to work and do the boxing before we leave the 
place,” said Darby. 

The boys pushed down planks from above, produced all the neces- 
sary tools, nails and spikes, so that in less than three hours the chests 
and plate were in stout boxes, made from plank, securely spiked in 
every direction. Not content with this, the surgeon suggested that 
some of the old arms and implements should be boxed by themselves. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


281 


as specimens of ancient fighting implements, that would not only help 
to settle the character of the vessel, but be valuable as relics. 

" But let us settle how this secret is to be kept from the knowl- 
edge of anybody else on the island till the time comes for the open 
handling of it,” said the practical Darby. "There are strange men 
here, you know— the crew of the Aberdeen — and we don’t want any 
of them to know anything about this; indeed, not a living soul should 
know it but ourselves.” 

" Agree that nothing shall be said about it except when we are all 
together in this room,” said Dick; " that is what Jack and 1 settled 
upon as our rule.” 

"That covers the whole case,” assented Darby, “and with the 
entrance covered with sand, as at the first, the whole thing will be 
as good as blotted out until it becomes necessary to take action for 
the removal to the tender, 

“ And now let us see if any of these old weapons are worth boxing, 
as the surgeon suggests,” Darby continued. 

“ Better examine the side walls and doors of the room first," the 
surgeon remarked, and his hint was immediately acted upon. 

There were two doors, one aft and one at the side. On cutting 
into the end door with the axe, it gave way so suddenly and let in 
such a mass of sand it was deemed prudent not to make any more 
experiments in that line. There was a small locker-like door which 
had escaped the boys’ notice, and as it was easily opened with the 
edge of the axe a candle was held up to expose its contents. It 
proved to be a small wine closet, containing two or three dozen 
bottles set in sockets to prevent them from being rolled about by the 
action of the waves upon the vessel while at sea. Most of them 
were full, and the surgeon said that, from long keeping, they were 
doubtless very valuable, and he also suggested that they should be 
boxed up to go with the rest. But the boys said they did not wish 
to have anything to do with wine, new or old ; the best thing that 
could be done with it was to break the bottles and spill their contents in 
the sand. 

" Then we will let them stand there, and when the other things 


282 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


are removed, we will turn them over to the medicine chest of the 
island.” said the surgeon. 

About a score of the old weapons, including the dagger, pistols 
and short swords, were gathered and boxed by themselves, and with 
this the work was completed, so far as things below were concerned. 

When about to ascend, Jack said : " We must have another plank 
up before we can induce Bingo to go up.” 

“ Oh, he’ll follow our example fast enough,” Moline answered. 

" He didn’t follow ours,” laughed Dick. 

“ That was because you didn’t have the authority to back it up ; 
that’s the way with some people, you know ; the crack of a whip 
makes them as dutiful as saints. Here. Bingo, get out of this.” 

And the Bernard took the plank and went up with the steadiness 
of a rope-walker, and with as much ease as though he had only two 
legs to be responsible for, instead of four. 

The gray of the morning was beginning to show in the east when 
the work of concealing the entrance was completed. 

Jack, drawing a long sigh, said ; “ Well. Dick, when we started from 
home on that halibut hunt, we didn’t expect to catch such a big ” 

Dick suddenly interrupted him with the question ; “ Did you ever 
see a grasshopper make a handspring ?” 

“ What has that to do with this ?” 

“No more than we have, now that we are above ground. Grass- 
hopper is to be the word when we begin to get loose about the mouth,” 

The men laughed, and the surgeon said : “ We men will copy 

your example and ‘ grasshopper ’ one another if we find ourselves 
talking when we should keep our secret.” 

“ Grasshopper!” exclaimed the king, warningly. 

“ Sesame opened the cave for Ali Baba, but Grasshopper beats it 
out of sight for shutting a secret in,” said the surgeon. 

Let the reader try it a few times when his mouth is in danger of 
getting the better of his discretion. 


SOMIC FRESH SURPRISES 



HE giant, thinking that the boys’ 
supplies might not be adequate 
for their guests’ appetites, filled 
a large basket with the best he 
could produce from his own larder 
and advanced upon Dune Dale 
with the intention of being in time 
to serve as butler while Dick and 
Jack were eating with the king 
and his cabinet ministers. 

When he entered the cottage, 
the king and the surgeon, with 
their clothes on, were sound 
asleep upon the outside of the 
big bed, while stretched about in 
various positions on quilts laid 
upon the floor, lay Moline and the boys, slumbrously dead to all con- 

283 


284 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


sciousness of the world in general and to the giant’s presence in 
particular. 

There was so little dignity in the tableau, and such a look of ex- 
treme dissipation over all, that Jumps, surprised, and horrified, as 
well, exclaimed ; “ Her vas all pe trunk as vools !” 

" What is that you say?” asked the surgeon, who, slowly aroused 
by the giant’s heavy tread upon the floor, had become sufficiently 
awake to understand what was said. 

“ Ach ! 1 vas say dot if she vas git up pooty qvick, right ervay, 

dot wittles vas mit me dot she vas hafe vor prekvast.” And the 
giant was really startled into making a tangent from the circle of 
truth by dwelling upon his intentions rather than upon his words. 

•• You said we were all drunk.” By this time tfie others had risen 
to a half-erect posture, and the giant, fearing the witnesses would 
multiply against him, was in sad perplexity. 

“Grasshopper!” blurted Jack. who. in a semi-dazed state, was 
seized with a sudden fear that someone might be indiscreet in ven- 
turing upon explanations. 

“Grasshopper!” repeated the other four, now beginning to laugh 
immoderately. ^ 

“ Grasshobber ? Vat vor you calls me dot? Ven 1 vas say dot 
vas dot prekvast she vas hafe right ervay, und she vas say 1 vas 
trunk.” 

“ Drunk?” said Dick, laughing. “ we couldn’t say that, when we 
know that there isn’t enough liquor on the island to — to — oh, 1 for- 
got about ” 

“ Grasshopper!” exclaimed all the rest, with a sharp inflection of 
warning. 

“ Grasshobber ! Grr-asshobber ! If she vas say dot some more 1 
vas say she vas trunk some more, doo. und dot she vasn’t git sober 
right ervay, yet erwhile.” And Jumps, unable to see the sense of 
the grasshopper, and, concluding that they were assaulting his dig- 
nity. was becoming more and more belligerent. 

“ It is only a little fun. Jumps,” said the surgeon, placatingly. 
And, as it was dangerous to undertake any explanation of their dis- 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


285 


orderly appearance, he sought to divert attention from the whole 
affair by adding: " It is just splendid in you to take the trouble to 
come all the way up here to help us along with our breakfast, and 
that, too, when we are so hungry.” 

“ Veil, if her vas hongry, und ish standt up as straight as she vas,” 
— all had risen — “ her vasn’t trunk nodt a pit, don’t it?” But, all 
the while they were eating breakfast. Jumps ever and anon shook his 
head and wondered what should have given them such a passion for 
grasshoppers. 

With the departure of the Darbys and the surgeon to their own 
end of the island, the boys very soon discovered that, in one sense, 
possession of property is oppression of mind. Their secret weighed 
upon them, after the first novelty of it had passed away, and they be- 
gan to consider the responsibility of their position. They rode, and 
hunted, and sought to amuse themselves as heretofore, yet were so 
constantly pursued by care, that they began to feel as though they 
had leaped to maturity and its experiences at a single bound. The 
giant was the first to notice the change, and to mourn the absence 
of the boyish lightheartedness which had been such a boon to his 
own dismal life and surroundings. The grasshopper was a burden to 
him in a sense that even Solomon, in all the glory of his mind and 
monarchy, could never have thought of when he wrote, “ and the 
grasshopper shall be a burden.” 

The scene that the giant witnessed at Dune Dale was not easily 
effaced from his mind, and his perplexity concerning it had been 
gravely deepened by the fact that more than once, when the boys 
were in his company, and seemed to be on the point of recovering 
their spirits and playfulness, by indulging in large and imaginative 
views and plans for the future, one or the other would cause a mys- 
terious lapse into self-constraint and quietness, by pronouncing the 
word, “ grasshopper,” as though their very lives depended upon keep- 
ing that long-legged, long-leaping, unmusical, goggle-eyed, green- 
hued and generally unwelcome and disreputable insect uppermost in 
their minds. 

One day, when Dick had snapped the word at Jack in a more than 


286 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


ordinarily energetic manner, Jumps piteously said; •• Ach ! dot 
grasshobber! He vas dake dose poys ervay vrom Jumps efery dime 
so pooty qvick, mein heart vas go novheres mit ’em all dot dime.” 

The pathetic manner of the giant touched Dick more than his 
words, and he verged so dangerously near upon a compromising con- 
fidence with the dear, old, trusty friend, that Jack fairly shouted ; 
“ Grasshopper, Dick, or you’re lost!” 

“Grasshobber!” repeated the giant, angrily, and then immedi- 
ately relaxing and driving the frown from his big forehead by a broad 
smile, he added ; “ I vas say dot myselluf efery dime ven I vas 
madt, und efery dime I vas gladt, pesides.” 

And he got in the way of repeating it in such most unheard of 
connections, that the boys had no end of fun over it, and this proved 
such a relief to him, that his own good spirits flapped wings and 
crowed with theirs. 

There was nothing in the underground compact to hinder the boys 
from thinking as much as they pleased of the rosy future that seemed 
to be dawning upon them, and it is not to be denied that the 
“ rooster,” that seems to be as inseparable from each one of us as 
it is from every country home, did considerable strutting in the back- 
yard of Dick and Jack’s thoughts. Jack had some very lofty fits, 
and, having in mind pictures he had seen of Napoleon’s favorite at- 
titude, he would occasionally be found standing alone on the veranda, 
or the beach, or among the dunes, with one leg in advance of the 
other, his left hand thrown behind him and his right thrust majestic- 
ally into the bosom of his red flannel shirt, with his chin resting upon 
his chest — in fine — with an entire bearing that would have done honor 
to the celebrated Emperor himself. 

Goming into the room one day from the veranda, where, for some 
time, he had been standing in his favorite Napoleonic style, he said 
to Dick, as soberly as if on the eve of a great campaign : “ Dick, 1 
have been thinking that it wouldn’t be a bad idea tor us to come back 
here, when we are men, and marry the king’s daughters. You may 
have Alice, and 1 could take Belva. 1 rather guess that they would 
be glad to get us, now that ” 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


287 


'■ Grasshopper !” Dick shouted. 

" Well, anyway, what do you think of those girls for wives?” Jack 
persisted, in spite of the interruption. 

“ Gracious, Jack! Marry those freckled-faced, egg-shaped, pudgy 
creatures ? V/hat can you be thinking of? When 1 get married, I 
am going to hunt up some city girl, who has been brought up in some 
style. We don’t want to throw ourselves away, now that we 


Grasshopper!” warned Jack, in his turn, with a most provoking 
laugh; and then he continued: •• No city girl for me, if you please. 
To be sure I have seen but few of them, yet those I have seen have 
such confounded good opinions of themselves they can have only bad 
ones left for other people ; and they think so much of their dresses 
that they haven't room enough left to think of anything else. But it 
is as you say, the Darby girls are freckled and pudgy, and perhaps it 
would be better for us not to marry them ; besides it would be lots 
of trouble for us to get on and off this island every time we wanted 
to see them.” 

“Yes,” replied Dick, rather sarcastically. “ if they were ever so 
handsome, the tree they are in would make it pretty hard picking to 
get at them. But don’t you think we are talking pretty green for 
even such a pair of youngsters as we are ?” 

“ We have got to talk about such things some time or other, and 
we might as well begin now as at any other time. One good thing 
has come of it anyway ; we have settled about the Darby girls — and 
that ought to have been done before we left the island.” 

“ Speaking of leaving the island. Jack, it seems to me as if 
August would never come ; the days go by like snails. And yet, 
when the time comes for us to leave, it will be hard to go, thinking 
that we can never see Topsy nor Turvy, nor Bingo, nor dear old 
Jumps — nor any of the rest of them any more,” and Dick gave a 
sigh that was an unpleasant foretaste of parting scenes, while Jack 
was so affected by the anticipation that he got up and paced the floor 
in silence. 

“ Captain Moline has been like a father to us, and the giant more 


288 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


like a mother than like anything else,” Dick continued ; “ and all 
the rest have done everything they could to make our stay as pleas- 
ant as possible. Next week we must make one more visit to the 
palace to see the king and the surgeon, and Mrs. Darby — and the 
girls, for if they are freckle-faced and dumpy, they are as bright and 
as sweet as violets.” 

“ What will the girls do if we don’t marry them ?” said Jack, 
blindly, and with a swelling heart, that just at that moment was ready 
to promise and to undertake anything. 

•‘There’d be one of them left in spite of everything,” Dick re- 
plied, beginning to smile ; “ and, upon the whole, I think that the 
others would better be left to keep her and her mother company.” 

"Yes; 1 guess that’s so,” assented jack, dropping anchor again 
upon the bottom of Dick's older thoughts and judgment. 

Almost the first thing said to the boys, when they made their last 
visit to the palace, was ; " Well, lads, have you had many grasshop- 
pers down your way ?” 

" Lots and lots of them,” Dick answered, "and they have done 
so well by us that we are going to take some of the breed away with 
us to the mainland when we go. They will be a good thing to have 
around occasionally. Have you had many up here ?” 

" A few dozen,” said the surgeon, " and they have attended so 
strictly to business that we are beginning to think well of the whole 
tribe.” 

Darby was a magistrate, and the surgeon was a notary, and in 
their official capacities they had made out papers certifying to the 
circumstances attending the discovery made by the boys, but so dis- 
creetly had they managed it, that, although they had sent a private 
messenger to Moline for his signature, the messenger knew nothing 
of what was going on. And so well had Moline kept his part of the 
secret compact that the boys themselves were not aware of his 
signature until the documents were placed in their hands complete 
in every requirement. 

" Over this part of the business,” said the king, as he placed the 
papers in Dick’s hands, " the grasshopper has no jurisdiction ; the 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


289 


king alone is supreme. When it is time for the tender to appear, 
the surgeon will take up his quarters with you as my representative, 
and will stay by you till affairs are finished off, you know. My busi- 
ness will keep me at this end of the island, or 1 should be on hand 
also. And, now, having put you in shape as regards these necessary 
things, we will again abdicate in favor of the grasshopper, lest my 
wife and the girls should be troubled unnecessarily.” 

Ridiculous as it may appear, it is nevertheless true, that while 
the boys were making their farewell visit at the palace and roaming 
among the dunes with the girls. Jack had a return of the matrimonial 
quandary, but after a most critical re-examination of girl-possibilities, 
he sagely concluded that the king’s daughters were not up to the 
standard required by the circumstances To appease his conscience, 
however, he patronized them with a very generous respect, and other- 
wise acted, as Paul says. " after the manner of men.” 

What the girls thought all the while did not appear, but, judging 
from their conduct, one might safely say, that they had no more 
thoughts about matrimony than a chicken has about laying eggs. 
Nevertheless, they were free to say, that, seeing that Dick and Jack 
were the only boys on the island, they should be very lonely when 
they were gone. 

When August, the long looked-tor month, came, the boys were 
wrought up to a painful state of watchfulness and anxiety. Every 
hour of daylight was spent in observing the signs of the weather, the 
force of the surf, the direction of the wind, the state of the sky. and 
in watching for the first appearance of sm.oke on the horizon. The 
finer the weather, the more extreme was their anxiety. 

“ Bang — bourn — bourn — oum — om — m — !” 

It was the sound of the signal gun announcing the sighting of the 
steam-tender in the offing. 

-Thank God !” exclaimed Dick, and each hugged the other as if 
both were turned to bears. 

The preceding two days had been so windless, that the sea was al- 
most as flat as a table, and only the faintest ripples rolled along the 


290 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


beach. When the boys went to bed, they said to each other: “ She 
will surely be here to-morrow!” 

They 'were not yet out of bed, when the signal gun, announcing 
the coming of the steamer, was fired at the station, and the entranc- 
ing reverberations prolonged themselves among the dunes. 

Everybody was now in a turmoil of haste and- preparation. The 
surgeon came running from the Maskomet, closely followed by Cap- 
tain Moline from the station. 

“ Your deliverance has come !” shouted the surgeon, as soon as 
he got in sight. 

“ Look alive, there, boys,” said Moline. “ The grasshopper has 
skipped, and my men will be here at the beach with the big life-boat 
and tackle for the raising of the stuff you’ve got in your cellar. They 
thought 1 had gone out of my mind when I told them that you had 
some big, heavy packages there that must go on board the steamer 
at the first outgo of the boats. Lively is the word now, for a few 
hours may upset the sea again and make it as fretful and as unrea- 
sonable as ever.” 

When the men went down into the cabin of the old wreck, they 
were dumbfounded, but as authority was paramount to curiosity now, 
they had little time to ask questions or to form opinions. Moline 
kept them on the jump till the boxes were safely in the life-boat. 

All aboard, there I” and " Pull away, there !” came in swift suc- 
cession from the alert Moline. 

The boys, with the surgeon, were in the stern sheets as the bow 
of the boat headed for the tender, now in the offing signalling orders 
to the island people. Dick and Jack were sobbing uncontrollably, 
with their dimmed eyes turned to a solitary figure on the beach. 

Poor Jumps! His giant form loomed more largely than ever as 
it stood in solitary relief against the white of the upper beach. Every 
stroke of the oars that pulled the boys away pulled at his great heart 
and wrenched it with agony. The Bernard, at the water’s edge, 
looked toward the receding boat, and alternately whined and barked 
his farewell. Topsy and Turvy, on the upper beach, stood together, 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


291 


but, less aware of what was taking place, simply gazed seaward with 
blunt curiosity. 

The giant, as if turned to stone, stood watching, watching watch- 
ing. His eyes were too hot for tears, though his great bosom heaved 
with short, quick gasps. Only once did he move. Rising in the 
stern sheets, the boys waved their caps in farewell ; then his great 
right arm went slowly up toward heaven, and fora moment it was as 
fixed as iron. And the boys knew that the great palm turned toward 
them was sending benedictions after them. 

As the boat drew near the steamer, Dick, who had turned to see 
if he could get another glance at the giant’s diminishing form upon 
the beach, was startled to hear Jack exclaim ; “ My God, Dick ! 
Who are those two m.en standing by the rail and waving their hats 
toward us ?” 

Jack could not trust his own eyes, and for a moment Dick was 
equally doubtful of the evidence of his own sight, but standing up and 
waiting for the boat to get still closer to make assurance doubly sure, 
he joyfully exclaimed : “ Father and Mr. Uniacke !” 

•• Oh, my boys ! Thank God ! You are safe !” And Mr. Mel- 
ville, the moment the boys were on the deck of the tender, embraced 
and kissed them again and again, while Uniacke, whom the reader may 
remember, was the attorney who was one of the hunting party intro- 
duced in the earlier pages of this story, shook them by the hand, and 
devoted the rest of his energies to fighting back the emotions that 
threatened to play havoc with his facial property and his voice, as well. 

“And mother — mother! How is she ?” Jack asked, anxiously, 
as soon as he regained command of himself. 

• Rather poorly, boys, and no wonder, considering what she has 
been suffering on your account ; yet not so poorly as to prevent her 
from becoming herself again, when she finds that you are safe. She 
and all the rest of the family are in Halifax.” 

“ Glory, glory 1” exclaimed Dick, who had already begun to think 
of the long distance between Halifax and Black Point, and of the 
days that must pass before home could be reached. 

“ I have sold Black Point,” Mr. Melville went on, “ to the hunting 


292 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


club of which our friend. Mr. Uniacke, is the president, and have 
gotten more for it than I ever expected to realize, since that storm 
that upset us.” 

" Good-by, old Black Point — you hateful old hag of a place !” ex- 
claimed Dick, in the boundlessness of his satisfaction. " But do 
you mean to say that you have already moved away from there?” 

" Yes, we have moved to Halifax, into a nice little house on Tower 
Road not far from the public park and gardens. Black Point be- 
came so hateful to us all. and it was such a torture to be there, that 
we removed as soon as the sale was completed. The Black Point 
cottage is now turned into a hunting lodge, and is in charge of a 
French lodge-keeper.” 

He can keep it, for all we care,” said Jack, who was beginning 
to feel that he needed something to tie him down to the tender, he 
was getting so airy and light-hearted. 

“ But, 1 don’t understand how it happens that you are here,” said 
Dick, somewhat confused by the glare of the light that v/asso rapidly 
concentrating itself upon the family destiny. 

"Well, that is easily explained, my boys. I believed that you had 
fetched up on Sable Island, and so did every old seaman with whom 
I conversed about the matter. The hunting club believed the same 
thing, and Mr. Uniacke got permission from the government for me 
to accompany the tender on her annual trip, and he had become so 
much interested in your fate, that, when it came time for the steamer 
to leave, he came aboard and stayed by me. I was in such an agony 
of anxiety on the way here, I do not know what I should have done if 
he had not been with me. He, it was, who first discovered you 
standing on the beach, as he looked through the steamer’s glass. 
Then the load 1 had been carrying so long dropped into the sea.” 

"God bless you, for your kindness to my father!” said Dick, 
gratefully, taking the friendly attorney by the hand and shaking it 
with a vigor that made him wince, while Jack, taking his other hand, 
caressed it as softly as though it were his mother’s cheek. 

" Yes,” said the attorney, affecting to ignore their action, and re- 
ferring directly to what Mr. Melville had said. " when 1 saw you 



“THANK god! you ARE SAFE I’ * 

293 









ON SABLE ISLAND 


295 


through the glass, 1 was immensely relieved, 1 can assure you. But, 
1 saw an enormously big fellow there with you — so enormous, that, 
when I saw him kissing you 1 was afraid you might tumble into his 
mouth, and so get lost, in spite of our coming all the way here 
after you.” 

“ That was the giant. Jumps,” said jack, laughing at the pleasant 
bit of fiction the lawyer had thrown out to relieve the tension which 
had become so straining to his professional serenity. 

“jumps — the best old giant you ever heard of, and I wish he was 
with us this very minute !” exclaimed Dick, feeling as though the 
giant had a rope around his heart and was trying to pull him back to 
the shore. 

All the boats of the station were now at the tender’s sides, and, 
with the arrival of Darby and the crew of the wrecked Aberdeen, and 
the hurly-burly of unloading the annual supplies for the island into the 
life-boats, further chance for conversation was, in a measure, cut off. 
The haste of everything was increased by the appearance of gray 
weather in the north, and the steady rising of the wind. Captain 
Fortescue’s orders were flying about thick and sharp as driving hail, 
and it was not long before the boats headed for shore and the steamer 
turned for the open sea, and made haste to get out of the dangerous 
network of shoals before the mists shut down upon her. 

The boys found themselves freshly tried, when Darby, the sur- 
geon, and Moline and others among the Sable Island people bade 
them good-by. 

As the tender was sometimes obliged to hover around Sable Island 
days before she could effect a landing, no one could tell when she 
would arrive at Halifax. From the time of the departue of Mr. Mel- 
ville and his steadfast friend, Mr. Uniacke, Mrs. Melville’s suspense 
increased hourly. Sable Island was her only hope, if that failed her, 
the fate of her boys was sealed. 

At the end of the fifth day after the departure of her husband, the 
door opened without ceremony, and Dick and jack were in her arms 
before the family had time to get into the hallway, and the long year 
of suspense and sorrow was at an end. 


296 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


It was some time before Mrs. Melville could collect herself enough 
to notice that her husband had not yet come in, but, when she did, 
there was a shade of anxiety on her face. when she asked: “ Where 
is your father ? Why is he not with you ?” 

“ Oh, we left him and Mr. Uniacke to look after our baggage,” 
said Dick, so cheerfully, that her uneasiness was immediately quieted. 
But the idea of baggage appeared so ludicrous, that she said : 

“ You went from home with so little baggage, I do not see what 
you could have to bring back with you.” 

“Wait till you see !” cried Jack, with so much impulsiveness, and 
with so much meaning sticking out of his eyes and hanging down 
over the whole of his face, that he was in danger of letting his lips 
run away with him prematurely. 

" Grasshopper!” shouted Dick, with a frown. 

jack shut himself up as tightly as a clam, whose mud-hole has 
been suddenly invaded. 

But little Mary, who had a way of taking words at their straight 
meaning, after looking around for some trace of the insect, which 
was very obnoxious to her, innocently asked : “ Where is it ?” 

The boys laughed, but before they could be pressed for an ex- 
planation, a dray drove up to the door, followed by Mr. Melville, Mr, 
Uniacke, and three laboring men. With the assistance of these aids 
the four boxes addressed to Richard and John Melville, were con- 
veyed to the sitting-room, to the great wonder of the family. 

That’s the blam’dest heavy baggage 1 ever handled,” growled 
the drayman, wiping the sweat from his forehead. 

“ Of course it’s heavy,” said Uniacke ; “ it a specimen of Sable 
Island sand. Here is your pay,” and he pulled out a handful of 
silver and distributed it among the men, adding, “ don’t get drunk 
because you have got more than your due.” 

“ I’m a reg'lar teetotaller,” said one of the men, with a significant 
leer, •• but thankee all the same, very much indeed.’ 

" 1 thought that the sand was the best grasshopper that I could use 
with them,” said the attorney to Dick and Jack, as the men departed. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


297 


for he, as well as Mr. Melville, had been told the story of the con- 
tents of the boxes. 

Mrs. Melville looked her Inquiries from one to another, puzzled at 
this recurrence of the long-legged intruder’s name, but her attention 
was immediately diverted by the necessity of preparing tea for the 
so happily increased household. 

The reunion at the family table, after so long a separation, was 
something to be remembered. Nor was its joy in any way embar- 
rassed by the presence of the genial lawyer, whose pleased sympathy 
bubbled over in the way of questions and cross-examination, which 
elicited from Dick and Jack a minute account of their voyage to, 
landing upon, and experiences among the dunes and people of the 
*• Cemetery of the Sea.” 

At the table nothing was said about the discovery of the buccan- 
eer rover ; the grasshopper lingered among those boxes as if unwill- 
ing to depart, yet his legs were drawn up under him for a big leap. 
After tea, tools were brought in. The box of old arms was first 
opened, and while they excited the wonder of the family, the attor- 
ney, an ardent antiquarian, was delighted with their antiquity. Then 
came the uncovering of the plate and the story of the old vessel, fol- 
lowed quickly by the unboxing of the chests in the presence of the 
amazed Mrs. Melville and the children. Expectation became pain- 
fully acute, as Mr. Melville, and the attorney, and the boys, with the 
aid of cold chisels and hammers, broke open the chests, the smaller 
one of which was filled to the brim with gold pieces, and the larger, 
with silver and occasional pieces of gold. 

“To whom does all this belong?” asked Mrs. Melville, now paler 
than usual, under the extreme excitement of the moment. 

“ To Richard and John Melville,” said the attorney, with the dog- 
matic air of one who was delivering the decision of the law, •• and to 
those with whom they see fit to share it. True, it is treasure trove, 
but is of such a nature that there can be no other claimants for it. 
The papers furnished by the authorities of the island are in my hands, 
and the affidavits are good against the world, as 1 am most happy to 
say. Mr. Melville must immediately qualify as the guardian of the 


298 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


boys. The treasure should be deposited in the Provincial Bank at 
the earliest moment — say, to-morrov/ at farthest. I should say, from 
a rough guess at the value — including the gold and silver plate — that 
there is not less than a quarter of a million dollars under your eyes. 
The news of the safety of the boys is already bruited abroad in the 
city, and 1, with the permission of Mr. Melville, who has asked me 
to serve as his lawyer in this whole business, shall make out a state- 
ment for the press in a general way, but, of course, we must apply 
the grasshopper to every matter of detail, and then await results, of 
which, however, there need not be the slightest fear. As a matter 
of caution, Mr. Melville and the boys should stay in this room to- 
night, though there is not the slightest reason to fear intrusion from any 
unwelcome visitors. Now, I will go and attend to the newspapers, 
while you look after things here. So, grasshopper, and good night.” 

And the attorney departed. 

" Father, where is your hat ?” asked Dick, in the silence which 
followed. 

“ My hat? There it is on the table.” said Mr. Melville, arousing 
himself from the stupor of his astonishment. 

" Well, just take it and hold it in your hand for a moment till we 
come back.” Mr. Melville held the hat, looking at it as if it were 
an elephant. 

The boys went into another room, but soon returned bearing their 
canvas belts with them. 

“ Pass the hat for the last collection you’ll ever take up, as a 
preacher, for yourself,” said Dick. “ Don’t be afraid! Hold it out.” 

Almost involuntarily, Mr. Melville held the hat out, while the boys 
dropped the belts into it. Dick saying, as they fell into the crown ; 
“There, count that collection, and tell me, if you can, how many 
pennies you have hauled in for your last preaching collection.” 

The father held the belts up, after he had taken them out of the 
hat, and, in a dazed way. looked to the boys for an explanation. 

” Here, take this jack-knife and walk into them,” said Jack, hand- 
ing the knife to his father, and then striking his favorite Napoleonic 
attitude, to Dick’s great amusement. 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


299 


•• But be careful, father, that you do not drop anything," Jack cau- 
tioned, with an authority in keeping with his attitude. 

“ Here, open the belts over this bowl,” said Dick handing his 
father a bowl from the buffet. 

Mr. Melville turned the belts upon the table, and after fingering 
them slightly, smiled, saying : “ You have brought us specimens of 

Sable Island pebbles, I suppose ; you were always famous for picking 
up pretty pebbles at Black Point.” 

“ Pebbles !” exclaimed Dick, " it is a good deal easier to find 
diamonds on Sable Island than it is to find anything in the shape of 
a pebble.” 

“ If you had said specimens of Sable Island diet in the shape of 
peas and beans, you would have been nearer the mark,” Jack added. 

At the first rip in the first belt he cut into, a small rain of patter- 
ing brilliants fell upon the table, where they flashed in the lamplight 
as though enjoying a luxury they had long been denied. With a set 
face he opened each division of each belt into the bowl, and after 
turning each belt inside out and satisfying himself that they were 
empty at last, he ran his fingers into the bowl, and after examining 
several jewels, singly, said : “ Boys, where did you get those 

stones?” 

■■ They were in a small box by themselves,” said Dick. 

“ Do you know what they are ?” 

“ If we had not suspected, we should not have taken so much pains 
to conceal them. Not a soul knows about them, and it was to keep 
our knowledge of them to ourselves that we said grasshopper when- 
ever we found that we were in danger of speaking about them to 
each other ; that always made us shut our mouths as if we were in 
danger of letting one of those long-legged fellows leap down our 
throats.” 

This is an amazing piece of business all the way through, but 
this hat collection, as you call it, is the most amazing part of all.” 


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THE END THAT 
IS ONLY A BEGINNING 

HE Melvilles passed a rest- 
lessly happy night. 1 n their 
most wakeful hours it seem- 
ed as though they were 
asleep and dreaming, it was 
so difficult for them to 
realize their changed cir- 
cumstances. When d a y- 
light came things became 
more palpable and real. 
The roomy, handsome cot- 
tage. the beautiful surround- 
ings. the quaint old capitol 
of the Province, the loom- 
ing fortifications of the cita- 
del above them, the big 
public buildings, the open 
park and gardens, the ab- 
sence of the sea’s mono- 
tonous roar, and above all, 
the fact that they were no 
longer to be exiles at Black 

delight. They kissed their 


Point, filled the boys with exuberant 
mother, swung the children around them in dizzy whirls, and cracked 
jokes with their father, with the most reckless temerity. 


302 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


“ If old Gray Blanket were here,” said Jack, at breakfast, •* he 
would feel sourer than ever, for all his terrible croakings about us 
wicked boys have run ashore, bottom up. I wonder where he is. I’d 
like to see him just once more.” 

" Mr. Gray is here in Halifax,” Mr. Melville said, soberly. 

“ Gracious !” Dick exclaimed ; “ I hope that we shall not have 
him preaching around and into us for another whole week — he’s an 
awfully sticky old fog-bank.” 

“ There is not much danger of that now, for he is in the insane 
asylum. He was so disappointed and angry because the world did 
not come to an end at the time he predicted, that he became rav- 
ingly crazy, and now he spends his time cursing the churches, the 
Bible, and everything connected with them.” 

“ Well, he’d better be doing that than to be using the Bible and 
the churches as scarecrows to everything that’s hopeful and 
cheery.” And there was so much rugged force in Dick’s unex- 
pectedly mature observation that Mr. Melville let it pass without at- 
tempting to qualify it. 

Mr. Uniacke came in after breakfast with a copy of the Halifax 
Herald containing a sample of the item furnished by him to the city 
press. After reciting the main facts concerning the disappearance 
and the recovery of the boys, it briefly and indefinitely alluded to the 
finding of the buccaneer vessel and articles of considerable value to 
the amateur antiquarian. 

“ There,” said he, " that will be a nine-days’ wonder, and then it 
will be eclipsed by some other sensation, which will last for 
another nine days — or less. Meanwhile we must get the iponey 
into the bank to Mr. Melville’s credit as guardian to the boys. 
The confessional uses the grasshopper to cover its penitents, 
the medical profession uses it to cover its patients, and the banks 
use it to cover their depositors, and we must continue to use 
it to prevent ourselves from becoming too conspicuously promi- 
nent, you know, for where the carcass is, there the eagles are 
gathered together. If anybody can get a chance to put you into 
chancery they’ll do it as a matter of course, for the lawyers 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


303 


are master hands at laying out pickings for themselves. But if they 
undertake to get into this business they’ll run themselves so 
hard against the wall that they’ll get only skinned noses for their 
pains.” 

Mr. Melville brought out the bowl of jewels and told their story. 

The fertile attorney was overwhelmed with fresh surprise. “ Why, 
Melville, there is a fortune in that collection alone ! Your boys are 
the luckiest dogs alive ! Here is more business for that grasshop- 
per — the heaviest he has had on hand yet.” 

Mr. Melville thought that, having managed the business so far. the 
grasshopper was good enough for future trust, and he described the 
scene of the previous evening. 

The lawyer laughed vociferously, saying : “If every preacher 
could take up a hat collection like that, it would do one of two things : 
it would either empty the pulpits and leave us without preaching, be- 
cause the preachers wouldn’t want to preach any more, or it would 
fill up the churches, because the preachers wouldn’t have to take up 
any more collections, which would be the most drawing card they 
could play, there are so many people in this world that are hunting for 
churches which have no collection-traps connected with the pulpit to 
be sprung upon them when they are trying to settle down for their 
usual portion of Sunday medicine." And the lawyer nudged the 
minister, as if expecting a disclaimer. 

But Melville only laughed, for he understood his friend well enough 
to know that this was but the foam of a stream that at bottom was 
both clear and strong. 

Speaking more seriously, Uniacke went on to say ; “ There is 

no adequate market for such jewels as these ip Halifax ; you 
will have to go to New York, or to London or Paris to dispose 
of them to advantage, and, upon the whole, I think Paris is the 
place. And, look here, Melville, you ministers have so much con- 
science and we lawyers have so little, you will have to take me to 
Paris with you to keep the continental sharks from making mince- 
meat of you.” 


304 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


If I must go into the world-market with those stones, you will 
certainly have to accompany me,” Mr. Melville replied. 

Uniacke was an invaluable counsellor. Some legal busybodies, 
remotely connected with the government, tried to make a treasure 
trove case out of the boys’ discoveries, but failed so signally that all 
fear of disturbance from that quarter or on that ground vanished 
forever. 

The wealthy club, to which the lawyer belonged, purchased most 
of the plate for their clubhouse at a bullion valuation, and the old 
arms also passed into the possession of the club. 

One of the rings picked up among the bones in the buccaneer 
cabin contained a diamond solitaire of great value, and this was de- 
posited with the other stones. The remaining rings were kept as 
souvenirs, while the locket— a plain gold one, containing the likeness 
of a beautiful young girl— was given to Mrs. Melville. 

Mr. Melville and the lawyer went to Paris and sold the 
stones to such good advantage that the Melville assets were almost 
doubled. 

During the boys’ minority, Mr. Melville, having no settled 
charge — excepting the interests of his sons — was somewhat inclined 
to overdose them with frequent sermons on the responsibilities 
of wealth. 

After one of these moral deluges, Dick said : “ The best way 

for us to practice what you preach is to remember the poor, 
isn’t it?” 

“Yes, that is the best possible way,” Mr. Melville promptly 
assented. 

“ Well, that dear, old. Sable Island giant is a poor man, and the 
first thing Jack and 1 want to do is to deposit one thousand dollars to 
his credit in the bank, and send him the certificate the very first 
chance we get.” 

Mr. Melville was inclined to demur to such a beginning as this, 
but the boys were so persistent, he was compelled to execute their 
wishes. 

Little by little, however, Sable Island receded from their view, but 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


305 


not without being first substantially remembered in the way of a large 
library sent for the benefit of the lifemen, and the founding of a fund 
for the relief of such as might be injured or disabled in the island 
service. 

The boys often laughed at their precocious discussion of the mat- 
rimonial question while on the island, and whenever they recalled the 
images of the king’s daughters, the “ freckles, pudginess and patches ” 
came back to them with vivid distinctness. They were getting ac- 
customed to the clothes, manners and usages of the young people of 
Halifax society, but whether for better or worse, it would be difficult 
to decide, although it is safe to say that the society point of view, 
depending, as it does, so much upon the kind of clothes one wears, 
is far from being an elevated point of view. The butterfly, notwith- 
standing its wings and colors, carries the body of a grub, and the 
snob is only a grub with wings. 

The Melvilles lived seven happy years in Halifax, and then, in pur- 
suit of larger business advantages and facilities, removed to Boston, 
where, after a few years of apprenticeship in an extensive ship 
sailing firm, the sign. “ Melville Brothers,” indicated the headquar- 
ters of a firm whose ships and steamers did a wide ocean carrying 
business, and whose reputations stood prominent among the rising 
men of the •* Puritan City.” 

The brothers, entirely content with the comforts of the house 
which they had bought on Commonwealth avenue for the use of 
the united family, and much absorbed by their growing and very 
lucrative business, were quite indifferent to female society, and 
were rapidly acquiring bachelor habits , and tastes, which bade 
fair to keep them single for life. Indeed, they had gone so far 
as to agree to remain single until each had made a choice which 
should not only suit himself, but his brother also. The folly in 
the hide of the boy often sticks till it becomes a part of the soul 
of the man ; and as on Sable Island the boys built their matri- 
monial castles on improbabilities, so now we find them doing the 
same thing, although so mature and worldly-wise. They had also 


306 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


tacitly agreed that when one was married the other should be mar- 
ried at the same time. 

But foolish as are the dreams of men they sometimes come about 
in such unexpected ways, and with such success, that when they be- 
come realities they appear as the wisest things that were ever thought 
of, and as the only things that were expedient. 

One day while the brothers were making purchases in a Tremont- 
street dry goods store for Mrs. Melville, who was still the apple of 
their eyes, they were captivated by the appearance of two young 
ladies who were making purchases at the same counter. The 
amiability of the faces, the blueness of the eyes, the clearness and 
freshness of the complexions, the perfect taste displayed in the cos- 
tumes, and the low modulation of the voices, together with the grace 
of manner that characterized even their most trivial acts, made Dick 
think foolishly sudden thoughts concerning the elder, while Jack just 
as foolishly was drawn toward the younger. 

The admiration of the brothers was suddenly changed into aston- 
ishment when one of the ladies said to her companion, while the 
clerk was cutting some goods for them : “ By the way, Belva, father 
says that he learned this noon that the Melville brothers, who, we 
thought, were living in New York, are carrying on business here in 
Boston. Would you not like to see them once more ?” 

“ Why should 1, Alice ? All I remember about them is that while 
they were on Sable Island, they were a pair of tall, lean, freckle- 
faced, awkward, and quite ignorant lads, who made us a present of 
that queer Cinderella Carolina boat-wagon which afforded us so much 
amusement. I would much rather have another look at the wagon 
than 1 would at the makers of it.” 

Jack, who still retained a good share of his native impulsiveness, 
immediately advanced toward the ladies, and said : “ I beg your 
pardon, ladies, but happening to hear you speak of the Cinderella 
Carolina and Sable Island, and having heard you call each other by 
the names we used to know while on Sable Island ourselves, 1 came 
to the conclusion that you are the daughters of the king. My excuse 
for being so interested is the fact that I am Jack Melville, and my 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


307 


companion is Dick, my brother. We read of the arrival this 
morning of the steamer commanded by our old friend. Captain Darby, 
and intended to board her this afternoon in the hope of renewing 
our acquaintance with him ; if we had known that his daughters were 
with him, we should have paid our respects at once.” 

The Darbys blushed crimson when they recalled what had been 
said about the physicial and mental peculiarities of the Melville 
brothers. But Alice, who retained her natural merry frankness, 
said : “ Of course you overheard Belva’s flattering allusion to you ?” 

“ Yes,” said Dick, laughing, “ and if you will pardon me for say- 
ing it, we will acknowledge that you did but pay us off in our own 
coin, for we have often spoken of you as the freckle-faced, awkward 
Darby girls. But we cannot revenge ourselves upon one another in 
this public place ; if you will step into our carriage, which is at the door, 
we will drive down to the wharf, take in the king and drive you to 
our home, where you must stay while you are in the city. There 
we can revenge ourselves at our leisure. Your purchases can be put 
with ours and sent to our home. 

The old footing was so quickly and naturally restored, that the 
ladies consented to drive down to their father’s steamer, and condi- 
tioned further proceedings upon his opinions, saying that he still 
ruled as of yore. 

This was Darby’s first voyage to Boston as master of the passen- 
ger steamer Joe Howe, of which he was the principal owner. He 
stood on the wharf attending to some details of unloading, when a 
handsome carriage, with a liveried driver, drove up quite near to him, 
and a voice from within, said; “ Ho there, your majesty. Darby, 
Rex ! will you have the kindness to step here a minute, and excuse 
me for not getting out till a little later ?” 

Dazed by a salutation that savored so strongly of old-time asso- 
ciations, yet unable to recognize the voice. Captain Darby drew near 
the carriage, where he was still more surprised to find his two 
daughters in the company of two strange gentlemen. 

“ Well, sir, you have the advantage of me,” he said to Dick, who 
was smiling in spite of his effort to keep a sober face, “yet you use 


308 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


terms that must have been furnished you by someone who has known 
something about my former life on Sable Island.” 

“Why, Captain Darby, don’t you recognize us?” asked Jack, as 
the captain looked around for an explanation. 

“ I know those girls pretty well, but the others of you 1 don’t know 
from Adam,” said Darby, bluntly. 

“ We are the Dick and Jack whom you once summoned to the 
palace over the signature of Darby, Rex,” Dick explained; “ we’ll 
get out of the carriage and then, perhaps, you’ll know us.” 

“ By Jove, gentlemen ! I can detect just a little of the old boys in 
you — just enough to make it safe for me to give you a real hearty 
shake of the hand ; but the clothes, and the moustaches, you know, 
and all the rest are confoundedly confounding.” And he shook 
hands with a warmth that showed he was in no real doubt as to their 
identity. “ 1 heard this morning,” he continued, “ that you were here 
in Boston, and that you had become real upper-crust sort of chaps.” 

“ We belong to the under-crust,” said Jack, laughing. 

“ So much the better, for it is the under-crust that holds the pie, 
after all, Mr. Melville.” 

"Oh, don’t ‘mister’ us, captain,” said Jack, “we have been 
•missing’ and ‘mistering’ one another in the carriage at a great 
rate, but we two, at least, are plain Dick and Jack, still.” 

“ But where did you pick up the girls ?” 

The daughters explained, before the Melvilles had time to answer, 
and, in the end, the bluff old captain joined them in the visit to the 
Melvilles, and the acquaintance, thus renewed, was as delightful as 
it was unexpected. 

While they were recounting Sable Island experiences, the Mel- 
villes were particular to Inquire about the German giant. A German 
emigrant ship was castaway on the island and the giant was married 
to one of the young German women by the king, by virtue of his 
office as a magistrate, 

“ When I left the island and removed to Yarmouth to take charge 
of my vessel,” said Darby, “ which was four years ago, he left in 
the tender with me. He drew from the bank the money you left 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


309 


there for him and came over to the States. Since that time I have 
heard nothing of him.” 

And, speaking of marriage, not long after the reunion of the Mel- 
villes and the Darbys, there was a double marriage in Yarmouth 
performed by the Rev. William Melville. Dick and Alice made one 
pair, and Jack and Belva the other, and this, too, in spite of the fact 
that Dick had said that the Darby girls were freckle-faced and pudgy, 
and Belva had said that the Melville boys were lean, freckle-faced, 
awkward lads, remembered only for the Cinderella Carolina cask- 
boat carriage. When Father Time revenges himself in such pacific 
ways as this, we can well afford to let him have his will. 

There were now two domestic establishments in Boston, instead 
of one, and two summer Melville residences at Nahant, as well. 
Dick called his Nahant villa Maskomet, and Jack named his Dune 
Dale. 

Fortunes so seldom come by accident, it were folly for anyone to 
expect to stumble upon them unawares. Dick and jack never for- 
got that the foundation of their fortune was laid upon the spoils of 
buccaneers, and hence, they always felt that they were in duty bound 
to act as the administrators of that Providence which had made them 
the discoverers of the long-hidden wealth. Whether we have much or 
little, duty abates not jot nor tittle. Acquisition in any way involves 
inquisition in the final say. 

“Look here, jack!” exclaimed Dick, one morning, as he was 
glancing over a local morning paper, and then he read the following 
paragraph : 

“The German giant, who keeps a grocery store on Central Square, 
East Boston, lost the most of his stock in the fire which occurred 
over there last night. He and his wife and child live over the store, 
and it was with difficulty that his three-year-old daughter was saved 
from the flames. Mr. Schomps had no insurance, and his loss is, 
therefore, very heavy.” 

“ Can it be possible,” Dick continued, “that this is our jumps? 
1 know that people, who have been well acquainted in the past, may, 
in these city populations, get close together and yet remain as 


310 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


ignorant of one another as if they were at the opposite ends of the 
earth.” 

“That must be the dear old fellow,” said Jack, energetically, 
“ The name, nationality and description cannot be mere coin- 
cidences.” 

“ It will be easy enough to find out, and I will take the ferry and 
go over and see for myself,” Dick responded, reaching for his hat. 

Behind the blackened counter Jumps, for it was he, stood taking 
a sort of inventory of what the fire had left, and he was looking as 
disconsolate as though he had not a friend in the world. His face, 
being turned toward the shelves, he did not observe Dick when he 
came in at a brisk pace and walked directly up to where he stood. 
So many persons had come in and gone out, from mere curiosity, 
that Jumps had ceased to notice them. 

“ Grasshopper, Jumps!” said Dick, who recognized the giant the 
moment he entered the store. 

The giant turned as quickly as if he had been slewed by a whirl- 
wind. The English language was still the incurable sore of his life, 
as was immediately evinced, when, after gazing at his visitor, he 
said, in the broken patois, which was such music to Dick’s ears; 
“ Who vas dot ? She vas nefer say dot grasshobber — Jumps, mitout 
she vas see dot Saple Island ven I vas mit it myselluf. Ach ! you 
vas say dot so like mein poys, Dick und Jack, dot mein heart 
veels badt.” 

The levity ran out of Dick as water runs from a barrel when the 
bottom is knocked out, and his voice quivered, when he said : “ I 
am Dick Melville, and I am here to take possession of you again 
for myself, and for Jack, who lives in Boston with me.” 

“ Mein gracious I Gott in Himmel! If her vas say dot some 
more right ervay, pooty qvick, dot vire may purn me some more, 
und 1 don’t mind her nodt a pit.” And, greatly agitated, the giant 
came from behind the counter and laid his great hands upon Dick’s 
shoulders, and, after looking down into his eyes for a moment, said : 
" Ach I I vas see dot Dick pehint dose eyes, und her vas look at 


ON SABLE ISLAND 


31 1 

me und say grasshobber, Jumps, some more, und I vas say grass- 
hobber, jumps, some more right ervay myselluf efery tay.” 

In the back of the store, among the ruins, sat a woman holding a 
flaxen-haired child to her bosom. The mother’s face was an epitome 
of the ten commandments, and the child’s, a picture of the inno- 
cence that is above all law. 

“ Bauline ! “ Bau — line ! Her vas coom here right ervay, pooty 

qvick, as efer she vas !” 

When Pauline and the child stood by the side of the giant, he 
said: "You vas see dot vine shentleman, don’t it; und vat you 
dinks ? Dot vas mein Dick, und dot Jack vas ofer in Poston all 
dose dimes mit him efer so long dime ; und you vas see dem, und 1 
vas see dem some more myselluf ; und her vas see dot papy und 
mein vrow. Ach, Bauline ! I vas so habby as her nefer vas 
pevore.” 

And the giant got so inextricably mixed up in his speech that he 
paused to disentangle himself. Presently he broke out again with : 
" Und vat you dinks, mein poy ? Dot vas dot Bauline vat hear me 
say Dick und Jack vive tousan dimes und more pesides. Her vas 
vrecked on dot island, und I vas lofe her, und she vas lofe me ; und 
ven she vas hafe dot papy ve vas lofe some more petter dan dot 
udder dimes. Ach, I vas so habby !” 

His troubles were at an end. The Melvilles built for him a hand- 
some lodge on their Nahant estate, and made him the keeper of 
Dune Dale and Maskomet^ Here, with his little family, living among 
the arbors, and the flowers, and the trees, and serving the men who 
loved him so well, he knew neither want nor worry. 

Of all the Investments the Melville brothers made, none was more 
successful than the one made in the great-hearted, child-like, honest 
German giant. Jumps, otherwise known as Nicholas Schomps, the 
keeper of the Melville lodge at Nahant. He was a perennial bless- 
ing, done up in one of the Almighty’s original packages. 

The Melvilles were not the men to glut themselves with wealth 
against a day when death should force them to vomit it forth in un- 
willing throes ; nor were they the men to hold their gains for loud-sound- 


312 


DICK AND JACK’S ADVENTURES 


ing public gifts pompously dropped into the public “ collection ” for 
the sake of leaving behind a noisy tin-trumpet fame ; they made in- 
vestments of personal kindness to human beings, and personal mini- 
strations to human needs as personal administrators of a personal 
trust. There were many who rose up and called them blessed 
while they lived. 

And here endeth the last lesson : 

“ Honor and shame from no conditions rise ; 

Act well your part, there all the honor lies.” 

And now if the reader should seriously say 
As he closes the book and puts it away — 

“ Is this all plain truth, or is it a whopper ?” 

With finger on lips, we must end with 



THE HEART OF A BOY— 

Translated from the 166th Italian edition 
of Edmundo de Amicis — 

A book famous the world over. 

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Our edition is the oney one with 
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Silk cloth — stamped in ink and 
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75 cents. 

Eaird & Lee, Chicago. 





TAN PILE JIM ; Or 

A Yankee Waif Among the Bluenoses — 

By B. Freeman Ashley — 

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our own artist — 

An admirable story. 

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75 cents. 

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stamped — $1 . 00. 

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A story about cats — by Marion Martin. 
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Cute words — catchy music. 

In stiff boards — cover in colors — 

50 cents. 

Laird & Lee, Chicago. 


THE MODERN WEBSTER 
Pronouncing and Defining 
Illustrated Dictionary — 

A work unequalled to this day. 

‘ ‘ Clear — compact — accurate. ’ ’ 

Entirely and absolutely original. 

60,000 Words and Definitions. 
Illustrated. 

Limp cloth (not indexed) — 25 cents. 

Stiff cloth — gold stamp — 
indexed — 50 cents. 

Full morocco — full gilt — indexed — 
flags of the world in colors — one dollar. 

Laird & Lee, Chicago. 


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